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123-800: The Valley of Mexico ( Spanish : Valle de México ; Nahuatl languages : Anahuac , lit. 'Land Between the Waters';), sometimes also called Basin of Mexico , is a highlands plateau in central Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes , the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations including Teotihuacan , the Toltec , and the Aztec Empire . The valley used to contain five interconnected lakes called Lake Zumpango , Lake Xaltocan (Nahuatl languages: Xāltocān ), Lake Xochimilco , Lake Chalco and
246-645: A Spanish-based creole language called Chavacano developed in the southern Philippines. However, it is not mutually intelligible with Spanish. The number of Chavacano-speakers was estimated at 1.2 million in 1996. The local languages of the Philippines also retain significant Spanish influence, with many words derived from Mexican Spanish , owing to the administration of the islands by Spain through New Spain until 1821, until direct governance from Madrid afterwards to 1898. Thermal inversion In meteorology , an inversion (or temperature inversion )
369-462: A brownish haze that can cause respiratory problems. The Great Smog of 1952 in London , England, is one of the most serious examples of such an inversion. It was blamed for an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 deaths. Sometimes the inversion layer is at a high enough altitude that cumulus clouds can condense but can only spread out under the inversion layer. This decreases the amount of sunlight reaching
492-674: A canal in this area, calling it Nochistongo, leading waters to the Tula Valley, but the drainage was not sufficient to avoid the Great Flood of 1629 in the city. Another canal, which would be dubbed the "Grand Canal" was built parallel to the Nochistongo one ending in Tequixquiac . The Grand Canal consists of one main canal, which measures 6.5 meters (21 ft) in diameter and 50 km (30 mi) long. The drainage project
615-400: A consequence of the drainage of the valley for flood control. Since the beginning of the 20th century, some areas of Mexico City have sunk nine meters (30 feet). In 1900, the bottom of the lake was three meters (9.8 feet) lower than the median level of the city center. By 1974, the lake bottom was two meters (6.6 feet) higher than the city. The first signs of dropping ground water levels was
738-603: A considerable number of words from Arabic , as well as a minor influence from the Germanic Gothic language through the period of Visigoth rule in Iberia. In addition, many more words were borrowed from Latin through the influence of written language and the liturgical language of the Church. The loanwords were taken from both Classical Latin and Renaissance Latin , the form of Latin in use at that time. According to
861-522: A dramatic change in the pronunciation of its sibilant consonants , known in Spanish as the reajuste de las sibilantes , which resulted in the distinctive velar [x] pronunciation of the letter ⟨j⟩ and—in a large part of Spain—the characteristic interdental [θ] ("th-sound") for the letter ⟨z⟩ (and for ⟨c⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ ). See History of Spanish (Modern development of
984-482: A first language by Spaniards and educated Filipinos ( Ilustrados ). Despite a public education system set up by the colonial government, by the end of Spanish rule in 1898, only about 10% of the population had knowledge of Spanish, mostly those of Spanish descent or elite standing. Spanish continued to be official and used in Philippine literature and press during the early years of American administration after
1107-400: A growing population, increasing industry, and ecosystem degradation in the form of deforestation of the surrounding mountains, more water is leaving the system than is entering. It is estimated that 63 cubic meters per second (1,000,000 US gal/min) of water is needed to support the potable and agricultural irrigation needs of Mexico City's population. The main aquifer is being pumped at
1230-634: A hunter-gatherer existence in favor of agriculture sometime between the end of the Pleistocene epoch and the beginning of the Holocene . The oldest known human settlement in the Valley of Mexico is located in Tlapacoya , located on what was the edge of Lake Chalco in the southeast corner of the valley in contemporary Mexico State. There is reliable archeological evidence to suggest that the site dates as far back as 12,000 BC. After 10,000 BC,
1353-478: A long history in the territory of the current-day United States dating back to the 16th century. In the wake of the 1848 Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty , hundreds of thousands of Spanish speakers became a minoritized community in the United States. The 20th century saw further massive growth of Spanish speakers in areas where they had been hitherto scarce. According to the 2020 census, over 60 million people of
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#17327761781271476-642: A major environmental impact on the Valley of Mexico. Historically, Mexico City's potable water supply came via aqueduct from the mountain springs on the valley sides like that in Chapultepec as most of the water in Lake Texcoco was saline. These were originally built by the Aztecs and were rebuilt by the Spaniards. In the mid-1850s, potable groundwater was found underneath the city itself, which motivated
1599-539: A new 30-mile (50 km) drainage tunnel and repairs to the current 7,400-mile (11,900 km) system of pipes and tunnels to clear blockages and patch leaks. Over-pumping of groundwater in the 20th century has hastened the disappearance of the lakes. The old lake beds are almost all paved except for some canals preserved in Xochimilco, mostly for the benefit of visitors who tour them on brightly painted trajineras , boats similar to gondolas . Desiccation has had
1722-508: A primarily Hassaniya Arabic -speaking territory, Spanish was officially spoken as the language of the colonial administration during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Today, Spanish is present in the partially-recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as its secondary official language, and in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf ( Algeria ), where the Spanish language is still taught as
1845-426: A rate of 55.5 m/s (880,000 US gal/min), but is only being replaced at 28 m/s (440,000 US gal/min), or about half of the extraction rate, leaving a shortfall of 27.5 m/s (436,000 US gal/min). This over-extraction of groundwater from the old clay lake bed has been causing the land upon which the city rests to collapse and sink. This problem began in the early 20th century as
1968-617: A second language features characteristics involving the variability of the vowel system. While far from its heyday during the Spanish protectorate in Morocco , the Spanish language has some presence in northern Morocco , stemming for example from the availability of certain Spanish-language media. According to a 2012 survey by Morocco's Royal Institute for Strategic Studies (IRES), penetration of Spanish in Morocco reaches 4.6% of
2091-531: A second language, largely by Cuban educators. The number of Spanish speakers is unknown. Spanish is also an official language of the African Union . Spanish was an official language of the Philippines from the beginning of Spanish administration in 1565 to a constitutional change in 1973. During Spanish colonization , it was the language of government, trade, and education, and was spoken as
2214-416: Is cognate to the root word of satisfacer ("to satisfy"), and hecho ("made") is similarly cognate to the root word of satisfecho ("satisfied"). Compare the examples in the following table: Some consonant clusters of Latin also produced characteristically different results in these languages, as shown in the examples in the following table: In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish underwent
2337-475: Is vulnerable to severe air pollution problems due to its altitude, its being surrounded by mountains and the winds patterns of the area. The altitude, with its low oxygen levels, makes for poor combustion of fossil fuels leading to unsafe levels of nitrogen oxides , hydrocarbons , and carbon monoxide . The valley is surrounded by mountain ranges with one small opening to the north. The surrounding mountains and climate patterns here make it difficult to clear out
2460-436: Is Latin in origin, including Latin borrowings from Ancient Greek. Alongside English and French , it is also one of the most taught foreign languages throughout the world. Spanish is well represented in the humanities and social sciences . Spanish is also the third most used language on the internet by number of users after English and Chinese and the second most used language by number of websites after English. Spanish
2583-674: Is a global language with about 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain , and about 600 million when including second language speakers. Spanish is the official language of 20 countries , as well as one of the six official languages of the United Nations . Spanish is the world's second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese ; the world's fourth-most spoken language overall after English , Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani ( Hindi - Urdu ); and
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#17327761781272706-475: Is a closed or endorheic basin which geologically divides into three hydrologic zones, the low plain, which is essentially the bed of now-extinct lakes, the piedmont area and the surrounding mountains. The old lakebeds correspond to the lowest elevations of the valley in the south are mostly clay with a high water content and are almost entirely covered by urban development. In the piedmont area, these clays become mixed with silts and sands, and in some areas close to
2829-539: Is a phenomenon in which a layer of warmer air overlies cooler air. Normally, air temperature gradually decreases as altitude increases, but this relationship is reversed in an inversion. An inversion traps air pollution , such as smog , near the ground. An inversion can also suppress convection by acting as a "cap". If this cap is broken for any of several reasons, convection of any humidity can then erupt into violent thunderstorms . Temperature inversion can cause freezing rain in cold climates . Usually, within
2952-457: Is at lower pressure, and lower pressure results in a lower temperature, following the ideal gas law and adiabatic lapse rate . Under the right conditions, the normal vertical temperature gradient is inverted so that the air is colder near the surface of the Earth. This can occur when, for example, a warmer, less-dense air mass moves over a cooler, denser air mass. This type of inversion occurs in
3075-510: Is broken, either by extreme convection overcoming the cap or by the lifting effect of a front or a mountain range, the sudden release of bottled-up convective energy—like the bursting of a balloon—can result in severe thunderstorms. Such capping inversions typically precede the development of tornadoes in the Midwestern United States . In this instance, the "cooler" layer is quite warm but is still denser and usually cooler than
3198-469: Is concern that this tunnel will soon fail. It is continuously filled with water, making it impossible to inspect it for problems. If it fails, it would most likely be during the rainy season when it carries the most water, which would cause extensive flooding in the historic center, the airport and the boroughs on the east side. Because of this, another new drainage project is planned that will cost US$ 1.3 billion. The project includes new pumping stations,
3321-399: Is estimated that about 486 million people speak Spanish as a native language , making it the second most spoken language by number of native speakers . An additional 75 million speak Spanish as a second or foreign language , making it the fourth most spoken language in the world overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi with a total number of 538 million speakers. Spanish is also
3444-761: Is heavily influenced by Venezuelan Spanish. In addition to sharing most of its borders with Spanish-speaking countries, the creation of Mercosur in the early 1990s induced a favorable situation for the promotion of Spanish language teaching in Brazil . In 2005, the National Congress of Brazil approved a bill, signed into law by the President , making it mandatory for schools to offer Spanish as an alternative foreign language course in both public and private secondary schools in Brazil. In September 2016 this law
3567-491: Is instead refracted down towards the earth by the temperature-inversion boundary layer. This phenomenon is called tropospheric ducting . Along coastlines during Autumn and Spring, due to multiple stations being simultaneously present because of reduced propagation losses, many FM radio stations are plagued by severe signal degradation disrupting reception. In higher frequencies such as microwaves , such refraction causes multipath propagation and fading . When an inversion layer
3690-431: Is present, if a sound or explosion occurs at ground level, the sound wave is refracted by the temperature gradient (which affects sound speed) and returns to the ground. The sound, therefore, travels much better than normal. This is noticeable in areas around airports, where the sound of aircraft taking off and landing often can be heard at greater distances around dawn than at other times of day, and inversion thunder which
3813-459: Is refracted most, with the blue component of sunlight "completely scattered out by Rayleigh scattering ", making green the first or last light from the upper rim of the solar disc to be seen. Very high frequency radio waves can be refracted by inversions, making it possible to hear FM radio or watch VHF low -band television broadcasts from long distances on foggy nights. The signal, which would normally be refracted up and away into space,
Valley of Mexico - Misplaced Pages Continue
3936-596: Is significantly less than what it could carry as late as 1975 because continued sinking of the city (as much as 7 metres or 23 feet) weakens the system of water collectors and pumps. As a result, another tunnel, called the Emisor Central , was built to carry wastewater. Although it is considered the most important pipe in the country, it has been damaged by overuse and wall corrosion of the 20 ft (6 m) diameter pipe. Because of lack of maintenance and gradual decrease in this tunnel's ability to carry water, there
4059-844: Is spoken by very small communities in Angola due to Cuban influence from the Cold War and in South Sudan among South Sudanese natives that relocated to Cuba during the Sudanese wars and returned for their country's independence. Spanish is also spoken in the integral territories of Spain in Africa, namely the cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the Canary Islands , located in the Atlantic Ocean some 100 km (62 mi) off
4182-473: Is still common, especially in the summer rainy season, in lower-lying neighborhoods such as Iztapalapa , forcing residents to build miniature dikes in front of their houses to prevent heavily polluted rainwater from entering their homes. Subsidence also causes damage to water and sewer lines, leaving the water distribution system vulnerable to contamination which carries risks to public health. Measures other than drainage have been implemented to contain flooding in
4305-813: Is the de facto national language of the country, Spanish is often used in public services and notices at the federal and state levels. Spanish is also used in administration in the state of New Mexico . The language has a strong influence in major metropolitan areas such as those of Los Angeles , Miami , San Antonio , New York , San Francisco , Dallas , Tucson and Phoenix of the Arizona Sun Corridor , as well as more recently, Chicago , Las Vegas , Boston , Denver , Houston , Indianapolis , Philadelphia , Cleveland , Salt Lake City , Atlanta , Nashville , Orlando , Tampa , Raleigh and Baltimore-Washington, D.C. due to 20th- and 21st-century immigration. Although Spanish has no official recognition in
4428-488: Is the official Spanish language of the State. ... The other Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities... The Royal Spanish Academy ( Real Academia Española ), on the other hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. However, from 1713 to 1923, it called the language castellano . The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (a language guide published by
4551-542: Is used as an official language by many international organizations , including the United Nations , European Union , Organization of American States , Union of South American Nations , Community of Latin American and Caribbean States , African Union , among others. In Spain and some other parts of the Spanish-speaking world, Spanish is called not only español but also castellano (Castilian),
4674-578: Is usually assumed to be derived from castillo ('castle'). In the Middle Ages , the language spoken in Castile was generically referred to as Romance and later also as Lengua vulgar . Later in the period, it gained geographical specification as Romance castellano ( romanz castellano , romanz de Castiella ), lenguaje de Castiella , and ultimately simply as castellano (noun). Different etymologies have been suggested for
4797-568: The Spanish as a First Foreign Language (SAFFL) initiative in March 2005. Spanish has historically had a significant presence on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba , Bonaire and Curaçao ( ABC Islands ) throughout the centuries and in present times. The majority of the populations of each island (especially Aruba) speaking Spanish at varying although often high degrees of fluency. The local language Papiamentu (Papiamento on Aruba)
4920-508: The Spanish–American War but was eventually replaced by English as the primary language of administration and education by the 1920s. Nevertheless, despite a significant decrease in influence and speakers, Spanish remained an official language of the Philippines upon independence in 1946, alongside English and Filipino , a standardized version of Tagalog . Spanish was briefly removed from official status in 1973 but reimplemented under
5043-594: The Teotihuacan (800 BC to 800 AD) the Toltec Empire (10th to 13th century) and the Aztec Empire (1325 to 1521). Although violence and disease significantly lowered the population of the valley after the Conquest, by 1900 it was again over one million people. The 20th and 21st centuries have seen an explosion of population in the valley along with the growth of industry. Since 1900,
Valley of Mexico - Misplaced Pages Continue
5166-451: The saline water of the northern lakes from the fresh water of the southern ones. After the destruction of Tenochtitlan in 1521, the Spaniards rebuilt the Aztec dikes but found they did not offer enough flood protection. The arrival of the Spanish and subsequent efforts to drain the area for flood control was a major infrastructure project, called the desagüe , which was pursued throughout
5289-404: The 2021–2022 school year alone. The local business process outsourcing industry has also helped boost the language's economic prospects. Today, while the actual number of proficient Spanish speakers is around 400,000, or under 0.5% of the population, a new generation of Spanish speakers in the Philippines has likewise emerged, though speaker estimates vary widely. Aside from standard Spanish,
5412-595: The 20th century, Spanish was introduced to Equatorial Guinea and the Western Sahara , and to areas of the United States that had not been part of the Spanish Empire, such as Spanish Harlem in New York City . For details on borrowed words and other external influences upon Spanish, see Influences on the Spanish language . Spanish is the primary language in 20 countries worldwide. As of 2023, it
5535-540: The 20th century, the Mexico City portion of the valley contained a series of lakes, with saline lakes to the north near the town of Texcoco and freshwater ones to the south. The five lakes, Zumpango, Xaltoca, Xochimilco, Chalco, and the largest, Texcoco used to cover about 1,500 km (580 sq mi) of the basin floor. Small mountains such as the Sierra de Guadalupe and Mount Chiconaultla partially separated
5658-564: The 9th century, and the first systematic written use of the language happened in Toledo , a prominent city of the Kingdom of Castile , in the 13th century. Spanish colonialism in the early modern period spurred the introduction of the language to overseas locations, most notably to the Americas. As a Romance language, Spanish is a descendant of Latin. Around 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary
5781-654: The Equatoguinean education system and is the primary language used in government and business. Whereas it is not the mother tongue of virtually any of its speakers, the vast majority of the population is proficient in Spanish. The Instituto Cervantes estimates that 87.7% of the population is fluent in Spanish. The proportion of proficient Spanish speakers in Equatorial Guinea exceeds the proportion of proficient speakers in other West and Central African nations of their respective colonial languages. Spanish
5904-656: The Federal District and the adjoining cities in the state of Mexico. While population growth has slowed and even declined in the city proper, the outer limits of the metropolitan area keep growing. Much of this growth has occurred on the mountainsides of the valley, in the form of illegal settlements in ecologically sensitive areas. Overall urban settlement in the valley has expanded from about 90 km (35 sq mi) in 1940 to 1,160 km (450 sq mi) in 1990. The metropolitan area has about 21 million residents and about 6 million cars. Mexico City
6027-499: The Federal District itself, particularly during the construction of the city's Metro lines and in the neighborhoods of Del Valle in the center, Lindavista to the center-north and Coyoacán in the south of the city. The symbol for Line 4's Talisman station of the Mexico City Metro is a mammoth, due to the fact that so many bones were uncovered during its construction. However, the richest site for mammoth remains in
6150-480: The Federal District to the surrounding jurisdictions, especially to the north into the State of Mexico making for the Mexico City Metropolitan area, which fills most of the valley. Today, this metropolitan area accounts for 45 per cent of the country's industrial activity, 38 percent of GNP, and 25 percent of the population. Much of its industry is concentrated in the northern part of
6273-522: The Grand Canal, which before had drained the valley purely with gravity. Along with the pumps, the Grand Canal was expanded with a new tunnel through the low mountains called the Xalpa to take the canal past Tequisquiac . Even so, the city still suffered floods in 1950 and 1951. Despite its age, the Grand Canal can still carry 2,400,000 US gallons per minute (150 m/s ) out of the valley, but this
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#17327761781276396-705: The Iberian Peninsula. These languages included Proto-Basque , Iberian , Lusitanian , Celtiberian and Gallaecian . The first documents to show traces of what is today regarded as the precursor of modern Spanish are from the 9th century. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era , the most important influences on the Spanish lexicon came from neighboring Romance languages — Mozarabic ( Andalusi Romance ), Navarro-Aragonese , Leonese , Catalan/Valencian , Portuguese , Galician , Occitan , and later, French and Italian . Spanish also borrowed
6519-540: The Old Spanish sibilants) for details. The Gramática de la lengua castellana , written in Salamanca in 1492 by Elio Antonio de Nebrija , was the first grammar written for a modern European language. According to a popular anecdote, when Nebrija presented it to Queen Isabella I , she asked him what was the use of such a work, and he answered that language is the instrument of empire. In his introduction to
6642-589: The Royal Spanish Academy) states that, although the Royal Spanish Academy prefers to use the term español in its publications when referring to the Spanish language, both terms— español and castellano —are regarded as synonymous and equally valid. The term castellano is related to Castile ( Castilla or archaically Castiella ), the kingdom where the language was originally spoken. The name Castile , in turn,
6765-531: The Spanish during the colonial period. The largest and most dominant city at the time of the Spanish conquest was Tenochtitlan . It was founded by the Mexica ( Aztecs ) on a small island in the western part of Lake Texcoco in 1325, and was extended with the use of chinampas , human-made extensions of agricultural land into the southern lake system, to increase productive agricultural land, covering about 9,000 hectares (35 sq mi). The inhabitants controlled
6888-521: The Toltecs. None of these cities was completely autonomous or self-sufficient, resulting in a conflictive political situation, and a complex system of agriculture in the valley. These city-states had similar governmental structures based on the need to control flooding and store water for irrigating crops. Many of the institutions created by these hydraulic societies, such as the building and maintenance of chinampas, aqueducts and dikes, were later co-opted by
7011-502: The U.S. population were of Hispanic or Hispanic American by origin. In turn, 41.8 million people in the United States aged five or older speak Spanish at home, or about 13% of the population. Spanish predominates in the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico , where it is also an official language along with English. Spanish is by far the most common second language in the country, with over 50 million total speakers if non-native or second-language speakers are included. While English
7134-503: The Valley's one opening, where incidentally most of the region's industry is located. These factors diminish in the summer and the situation is helped by the arrival of the rainy season, but the valley's southern latitude and the abundance of sunlight allows for dangerous levels of ozone and other dangerous compounds. While still considered one of the most polluted places on the planet, the valley's air pollution problems are not as bad as they were several decades ago. One major problem that
7257-457: The administration of Ferdinand Marcos two months later. It remained an official language until the ratification of the present constitution in 1987, in which it was re-designated as a voluntary and optional auxiliary language. Additionally, the constitution, in its Article XIV, stipulates that the Government shall provide the people of the Philippines with a Spanish-language translation of
7380-569: The area so that the lakes’ waters were shallow at about five meters (16 feet) deep as early as the Tlapacoya culture, around 10,000 BC. During the Aztec Empire, the northern lakes were inaccessible by canoe during the dry season from October to May. For 2000 years, humans have been interfering with and altering the hydraulic conditions of the valley, especially in the lakes region. The Aztecs built dikes for flood control and to separate
7503-409: The beginning of the empire. However, by the time the Spanish arrived in 1519, Tenochtitlan had become the dominant power of the three, causing grievances that the Spaniards were able to exploit. However, despite Tenochtitlan's power outside the valley, it never completely controlled all of the valley itself, with the altepetl of Tlaxcala the most prominent example. By 1520, the estimated population of
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#17327761781277626-439: The ceremonial pyramid was abandoned, the site remained a location to leave offerings up to AD 400, although lava from the nearby Xitle volcano completely covered it. Around 2,000 years ago, the Valley of Mexico became one of the world's most densely populated areas and has remained so since. After the decline of Cuicuilco, the population concentration shifted north, to the city of Teotihuacan and later to Tula , both outside
7749-461: The city and their waters now flow directly into the Grand Canal. No water from these rivers is allowed to sink into the ground to recharge the aquifer. While the rivers and streams that flow down from the mountain peaks still begin the way they always have, their passage through the shantytowns lacking city sanitation schemes that surround Mexico City turns them into open combined sewers . Therefore, their final stages are frequently culverted or added to
7872-548: The city itself. While reduced visibility in the valley was due to sulfur emissions in the past, it is now due to fine particles in the air. The effects on humans living in an enclosed, contaminated environment have been documented, especially by Nobel Prize winner Dr Mario J. Molina . He claims fine particle pollution is the greatest concern because of lung damage. According to him, the city's residents lose about 2.5 million working days every year due to health problems associated with fine particles . The Valley of Mexico
7995-687: The city. In 1950, dikes were built to confine storm runoff. Rivers that run through the city were encapsulated in 1950 and 1951. Rivers such as the Consulado River, Churubusco River and the Remedio River are encased in concrete tunnels which take their waters directly to the drainage system to leave the Valley. Two other rivers, the San Javier and the Tlalnepantla, which used to feed the old lake system, are diverted before they reach
8118-582: The city. The old settlement once extended far beyond the boundaries of the current site, but it is buried under lava from one of the volcanic eruptions that led to its demise, and much of the modern city is built over this lava. The settlement was located where an old river delta used to form in the valley with waters from Mount Zacatépetl located in what is now the Tlalpan Forest. Cuicuilco was believed to have reached city status by 1200 BC and began to decline around 100 BC - AD 150. However, even though
8241-751: The classic hispanus or hispanicus took the suffix -one from Vulgar Latin , as happened with other words such as bretón (Breton) or sajón (Saxon). Like the other Romance languages , the Spanish language evolved from Vulgar Latin , which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans during the Second Punic War , beginning in 210 BC. Several pre-Roman languages (also called Paleohispanic languages )—some distantly related to Latin as Indo-European languages , and some that are not related at all—were previously spoken in
8364-546: The concept of a city-state based on the Toltec model. By the end of the 13th century, some fifty small urban units, semi-autonomous and with their own religious centers, had sprung up around the lakeshores of the valley. These remained intact with a population of about 10,000 each under Aztec rule and survived into the colonial period. All of these city-states, including the largest and most powerful, Tenochtitlan , with more than 150,000 inhabitants, claimed descent from
8487-500: The consonant written b (a bilabial with plosive and fricative allophones). In modern Spanish, there is no difference between the pronunciation of orthographic b and v . Typical of Spanish (as also of neighboring Gascon extending as far north as the Gironde estuary , and found in a small area of Calabria ), attributed by some scholars to a Basque substratum was the mutation of Latin initial f into h- whenever it
8610-404: The country's constitution. In recent years changing attitudes among non-Spanish speaking Filipinos have helped spur a revival of the language, and starting in 2009 Spanish was reintroduced as part of the basic education curriculum in a number of public high schools, becoming the largest foreign language program offered by the public school system, with over 7,000 students studying the language in
8733-425: The drying up of natural springs in the 1930s, which coincides with the beginning of intensive exploitation of the aquifer system through wells between 100 and 200 meters (330 and 660 ft) deep. Today, Mexico City is sinking between five and forty centimeters (0.2 and 1.3 ft) per year, and its effects are visible. El Ángel de la Independencia ("The Angel of Independence") statue, located on Paseo de la Reforma
8856-418: The effects of temperature inversions because they both produce more atmospheric pollutants and have higher thermal masses than rural areas, resulting in more frequent inversions with higher concentrations of pollutants. The effects are even more pronounced when a city is surrounded by hills or mountains since they form an additional barrier to air circulation. During a severe inversion, trapped air pollutants form
8979-580: The entire colonial period. The idea of opening drainage canals first came about after a flood of the colonial city in 1555. The first canal was begun in 1605 to drain the waters of Lake Zumpango north through Huehuetoca which would also divert waters from the Cuautitlán River away from the lakes and toward the Tula River . This project was undertaken by Enrico Martínez and he devoted 25 years of his life to it. He did succeed in building
9102-555: The existing major culverted rivers to keep this water from contaminating the aquifer. 19°40′N 98°52′W / 19.667°N 98.867°W / 19.667; -98.867 Spanish language Spanish ( español ) or Castilian ( castellano ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe . Today, it
9225-404: The fact that the federal government has favored development of the metropolitan area over other areas of the country. This has spurred investment in infrastructure for the city, such as electricity , other power sources, water supply and drainage . These have attracted businesses which in turn have attracted more population. Since the 1950s, urbanization has spread out from beyond the bounds of
9348-683: The following table: Spanish is marked by palatalization of the Latin double consonants ( geminates ) nn and ll (thus Latin annum > Spanish año , and Latin anellum > Spanish anillo ). The consonant written u or v in Latin and pronounced [w] in Classical Latin had probably " fortified " to a bilabial fricative /β/ in Vulgar Latin. In early Spanish (but not in Catalan or Portuguese) it merged with
9471-466: The former British colony of Belize (known until 1973 as British Honduras ) where English is the sole official language, according to the 2022 census, 54% of the total population are able to speak the language. Due to its proximity to Spanish-speaking countries and small existing native Spanish speaking minority, Trinidad and Tobago has implemented Spanish language teaching into its education system. The Trinidadian and Tobagonian government launched
9594-604: The grammar, dated 18 August 1492, Nebrija wrote that "... language was always the companion of empire." From the 16th century onwards, the language was taken to the Spanish-discovered America and the Spanish East Indies via Spanish colonization of America . Miguel de Cervantes , author of Don Quixote , is such a well-known reference in the world that Spanish is often called la lengua de Cervantes ("the language of Cervantes"). In
9717-401: The ground and prevents new thermals from forming. As the clouds disperse, sunny weather replaces cloudiness in a cycle that can occur more than once a day. As the temperature of air increases, the index of refraction of air decreases, a side effect of hotter air being less dense. Normally this results in distant objects being shortened vertically, an effect that is easy to see at sunset when
9840-471: The inversion layer to higher altitudes, and eventually even pierce it, producing thunderstorms, and under the right circumstances, tropical cyclones . The accumulated smog and dust under the inversion quickly taints the sky reddish, easily seen on sunny days. Temperature inversions stop atmospheric convection (which is normally present) from happening in the affected area and can lead to high concentrations of atmospheric pollutants. Cities especially suffer from
9963-509: The lake with a sophisticated system of dikes , canals and sluices . Much of the surrounding land in the valley was terraced and farmed as well, with a network of aqueducts channeling fresh water from springs in the mountainsides into the city itself. Despite being the dominant power, the need to rely on resources from other parts of the valley led to the Aztec Triple Alliance between Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and Tlacopan at
10086-410: The lake's region of the valley. Teotihuacan became an organized village around 800 BC but it was around 200 BC that it began to reach its height. When it did, the city had approximately 125,000 inhabitants and covered 20 square kilometers (8 sq mi) of territory. It was dedicated primarily to the obsidian trade and at its peak was an important religious center and pilgrimage for
10209-536: The lakes from each other. All the other lakes flowed toward the lower Lake Texcoco, which was saline due to evaporation. The lakes were fed by a number of rivers such as the San Joaquin, San Antonio Abad, Tacubaya, Becerra, Mixcoac and Magdalena Contreras, carrying runoff and snowmelt from the mountains. Long before the arrival of the Spanish, the lake system had been shrinking due to climate change. Warmer temperatures had increased evaporation and reduced rainfall in
10332-786: The lakes' waters to control flooding. The Valley of Mexico is located in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt . The valley contains most of the Mexico City Metropolitan Area , as well as parts of the State of Mexico , Hidalgo , Tlaxcala , and Puebla . The Basin of Mexico covers approximately 9,600 km (3,700 sq mi) in the NNE-SSW direction with length to width dimensions of approximately 125 km (78 miles) to 75 km (47 miles) The Valley of Mexico can be subdivided into four basins, but
10455-684: The language from the Kingdom of Castile , contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician , Basque , Asturian , Catalan/Valencian , Aragonese , Occitan and other minor languages. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the official language of the whole of Spain, in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas (lit. "the other Spanish languages "). Article III reads as follows: El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. ... Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas... Castilian
10578-549: The language's hegemony in an intensely centralising Spanish state were established from the 18th century onward. Other European territories in which it is also widely spoken include Gibraltar and Andorra . Spanish is also spoken by immigrant communities in other European countries, such as the United Kingdom , France , Italy , and Germany . Spanish is an official language of the European Union . Today,
10701-430: The large-scale drilling of wells. Today, 70% of Mexico City's water still comes from five principal aquifers in the valley. These aquifers are fed by water from natural springs and runoff from precipitation. It was only when the population reached about six million that Mexico City started to need to appropriate water from outside the valley. Today, Mexico City faces a serious water deficit. Because of increased demand from
10824-427: The largest and most-studied is the area that contains Mexico City . This section of the valley in particular is colloquially referred to as the "Valley of Mexico". The valley has a minimum elevation of 2,200 meters (7,200 ft) above sea level and is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes that reach elevations of over 5,000 meters (16,000 ft). It is an enclosed valley with no natural outlet for water to flow to
10947-516: The largest, Lake Texcoco , covering about 1,500 square kilometers (580 sq mi) of the valley floor. When the Spaniards arrived in the Valley of Mexico, it had one of the highest population concentrations in the world with about one million people. After the conquest of the Aztec Empire , the Spaniards rebuilt the largest and most dominant city, Mēxihco Tenōchtitlan , renaming it Ciudad de México ( Mexico City ) and over time began to drain
11070-464: The lower atmosphere (the troposphere ) the air near the surface of the Earth is warmer than the air above it, largely because the atmosphere is heated from below as solar radiation warms the Earth's surface, which in turn then warms the layer of the atmosphere directly above it, e.g., by thermals ( convective heat transfer ). Air temperature also decreases with an increase in altitude because higher air
11193-430: The lower part of the inversion layer capping it. An inversion can develop aloft as a result of air gradually sinking over a wide area and being warmed by adiabatic compression, usually associated with subtropical high-pressure areas . A stable marine layer may then develop over the ocean as a result. As this layer moves over progressively warmer waters, however, turbulence within the marine layer can gradually lift
11316-694: The majority of the Spanish speakers live in Hispanic America . Nationally, Spanish is the official language—either de facto or de jure —of Argentina , Bolivia (co-official with 36 indigenous languages), Chile , Colombia , Costa Rica , Cuba , Dominican Republic , Ecuador , El Salvador , Guatemala , Honduras , Mexico (co-official with 63 indigenous languages), Nicaragua , Panama , Paraguay (co-official with Guaraní ), Peru (co-official with Quechua , Aymara , and "the other indigenous languages"), Puerto Rico (co-official with English), Uruguay , and Venezuela . Spanish language has
11439-595: The modern-day town of the same name in the Mexican Federal District . It was one of the first significant population centers to arise in the valley, flourishing on the western shore of Lake Texcoco during the Middle Pre-Classic period , between 1200 BC and 200 BC. It was originally classified as a necropolis when it was first excavated, but it was determined that the many burials there were under houses of which nothing remains. It
11562-575: The most dangerous, exceed levels recommended by the World Health Organization . In the 1940s, before large-scale burning of fossil fuels in the area, the visibility of the valley was about 100 km (60 mi), allowing for daily viewing of the mountain ranges that surround the valley, including the snow-capped volcanoes of Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl. Since that time, the average visibility has come down to about 1.5 km (5,000 ft). Mountain peaks are now rarely visible from
11685-589: The mountains, the piedmont is largely composed of basalt from old lava flows. The valley is enclosed completely by mountain ranges, from which flow rain and melting snow into the valley's hydraulic system. This groundwater flow produces a number of springs in the foothills and upwellings in the valley floor. This underground flow is the source of the five aquifers that provide much of the drinking water to Mexico City located in Soltepec, Apan , Texcoco , Chalco - Amecameca and underneath Mexico City itself. Before
11808-783: The mountainsides that collect the precipitation that eventually flows to the lake area. These last two are found in all four of the sub-basins of the valley. Today, the Valley drains through a series of artificial canals to the Tula River , and eventually the Páruco River and the Gulf of Mexico . Seismic activity is frequent here, and the valley is an earthquake-prone zone. The valley has been inhabited for at least 12,000 years, attracting humans with its mild climate (average temperatures between 12 and 15 °C, or 54 and 59 °F), abundant game and ability to support large-scale agriculture. Civilizations that have arisen in this area include
11931-407: The native peoples, but after that, the population grew all through the colonial period and in the century after independence . By the early 20th century, the population of Mexico City alone had risen to over one million people. A population explosion began early in the 20th century, with the population of the city itself doubling approximately every 15 years since 1900, partly attributed to
12054-734: The northwest of the African mainland. The Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands traces its origins back to the Castilian conquest in the 15th century , and, in addition to a resemblance to Western Andalusian speech patterns, it also features strong influence from the Spanish varieties spoken in the Americas, which in turn have also been influenced historically by Canarian Spanish. The Spanish spoken in North Africa by native bilingual speakers of Arabic or Berber who also speak Spanish as
12177-538: The number of artifacts found increases significantly. There are also other early sites such as those in Tepexpan, Los Reyes Acozac, San Bartolo Atepehuacan , Chimalhuacán and Los Reyes La Paz but they remain undated. Human remains and artifacts such as obsidian blades have been found at the Tlapacoya site that has been dated as far back as 20,000 BC, when the valley was semi-arid and contained species like camels , bison and horses that could be hunted by man. However,
12300-497: The population has doubled every fifteen years. Today, around 21 million people live in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area which extends throughout almost all of the valley into the states of Mexico and Hidalgo. The growth of a major urban industrial centre in an enclosed basin has created significant air and water quality issues for the valley. Wind patterns and thermal inversions trap contaminants in
12423-533: The population. Many northern Moroccans have rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, with Spanish being particularly significant in areas adjacent to Ceuta and Melilla. Spanish also has a presence in the education system of the country (through either selected education centers implementing Spain's education system, primarily located in the North, or the availability of Spanish as foreign language subject in secondary education). In Western Sahara , formerly Spanish Sahara ,
12546-652: The precise dating of these artifacts has been disputed. Giant Columbian mammoths once populated the area, and the valley contains the most extensive mammoth kill sites in Mexico. Most of the sites are located on what were the shores of Lake Texcoco in the north of the Federal District and the adjacent municipalities of Mexico State such as in Santa Isabel Ixtapan , Los Reyes Acozac , Tepexpan and Tlanepantla . Mammoth bones are still occasionally found in farmland here. They have been discovered in many parts of
12669-426: The sea although there is a gap to the north where there is a high mesa but no high mountain peaks. Within this vulnerable watershed all the native fishes were extinct by the end of the 20th century. Hydrologically, the valley has three features. The first feature is the lakebeds of five now-extinct lakes, which are located in the southernmost and largest of the four sub-basins. The other two features are piedmont , and
12792-442: The smog produced. The valley has internal wind patterns which circulate around the valley without a prevailing wind to push contaminants in a single direction. The most significant climatic phenomena here is "thermal inversion," which is prevalent in the winter months when the cooler air of the valley is trapped by relatively warmer air above. Adding to this is that prevailing winds outside the valley move from north to south, in through
12915-448: The sun is visible as an oval. In an inversion, the normal pattern is reversed, and distant objects are instead stretched out or appear to be above the horizon, leading to the phenomenon known as a Fata Morgana or mirage . Inversions can magnify the so-called " green flash "—a phenomenon occurring at sunrise or sunset, usually visible for a few seconds, in which the sun's green light is isolated due to dispersion. The shorter wavelength
13038-537: The term español (Spanish). According to the Royal Spanish Academy, español derives from the Occitan word espaignol and that, in turn, derives from the Vulgar Latin * hispaniolus ('of Hispania'). Hispania was the Roman name for the entire Iberian Peninsula . There are other hypotheses apart from the one suggested by the Royal Spanish Academy. Spanish philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal suggested that
13161-444: The theories of Ramón Menéndez Pidal , local sociolects of Vulgar Latin evolved into Spanish, in the north of Iberia, in an area centered in the city of Burgos , and this dialect was later brought to the city of Toledo , where the written standard of Spanish was first developed, in the 13th century. In this formative stage, Spanish developed a strongly differing variant from its close cousin, Leonese , and, according to some authors,
13284-640: The third most used language on the Internet , after English and Chinese. Spanish is the official language of Spain . Upon the emergence of the Castilian Crown as the dominant power in the Iberian Peninsula by the end of the Middle Ages, the Romance vernacular associated with this polity became increasingly used in instances of prestige and influence, and the distinction between "Castilian" and "Spanish" started to become blurred. Hard policies imposing
13407-619: The valley is at the Paleontological Museum in Tocuila , a 45-hectare (110-acre) site located near the town of Texcoco in Mexico State. Although there is some evidence around the old lakeshores that the first populations here survived by hunting, gathering, and possibly by scavenging, evidence from this time period is scarce. Tlatilco was a large pre-Columbian village and culture in the Valley of Mexico situated near
13530-403: The valley was over 1,000,000 people. After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire in 1521, the Spanish rebuilt and renamed Tenochtitlan as Mexico City. They started with essentially the same size and layout as the Aztec city but as the centuries progressed, the city grew as the lakes shrank. Just after the conquest, disease and violence had decreased the population in the valley, especially of
13653-422: The valley. In the early 8th century, with the rise of the Toltec empire, Teotihuacan ceased to be a major urban centre and the population shifted to Tollan or Tula on the northern front of the Valley of Mexico. After the end of the Toltec empire in the 13th century and the decline of the city of Tula, the population shifted once again, this time to the lakes region of the valley. With this migration came
13776-521: The valley. Over-extraction of groundwater has caused new flooding problems for the city as it sinks below the historic lake floor. This causes stress on the valley's drainage system, requiring new tunnels and canals to be built. The Valley of Mexico attracted prehistoric humans because the region was rich in biodiversity and had the capacity of growing substantial crops. Generally speaking, humans in Mesoamerica , including central Mexico, began to leave
13899-462: The vicinity of warm fronts , and also in areas of oceanic upwelling such as along the California coast in the United States. With sufficient humidity in the cooler layer, fog is typically present below the inversion cap. An inversion is also produced whenever radiation from the surface of the earth exceeds the amount of radiation received from the sun, which commonly occurs at night, or during
14022-402: The winter when the sun is very low in the sky. This effect is virtually confined to land regions as the ocean retains heat far longer. In the polar regions during winter, inversions are nearly always present over land. A warmer air mass moving over a cooler one can "shut off" any convection which may be present in the cooler air mass: this is known as a capping inversion . However, if this cap
14145-596: The world's most widely spoken Romance language. The country with the largest population of native speakers is Mexico . Spanish is part of the Ibero-Romance language group , in which the language is also known as Castilian ( castellano ). The group evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. The oldest Latin texts with traces of Spanish come from mid-northern Iberia in
14268-463: Was brought under control was the lead contamination in the air with the introduction of unleaded gasoline . Two other contaminants that have been brought under control are carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide . The contamination problems that remain are primarily with ozone and fine particles ( soot ) (between 2.5 micrometers and 10 micrometers). Thirty to fifty percent of the time, Mexico City's levels of fine particles of ten micrometers,
14391-476: Was built in 1910, anchored by a foundation deep beneath what was the surface of the street at that time. However, because the street has sunk around it, steps have been added to allow access to the statue's base. Subsidence of the valley floor beneath has caused flooding problems as now much of the city has sunk below the natural lake floor. Currently, pumps need to work 24 hours a day all year round to keep control of runoff and wastewater. Despite this, flooding
14514-471: Was continued after independence, with three secondary canals, built between 1856 and 1867. During the presidency of Porfirio Díaz (r. 1876–1911) drainage again became a priority. Díaz completed it officially in 1894, although work continued thereafter. Despite the Grand Canal's drainage capacity, it did not solve the problem of flooding in the city. From the beginning of the 20th century, Mexico City began to sink rapidly and pumps needed to be installed in
14637-634: Was developed in the cities of Toledo , in the 13th to 16th centuries, and Madrid , from the 1570s. The development of the Spanish sound system from that of Vulgar Latin exhibits most of the changes that are typical of Western Romance languages , including lenition of intervocalic consonants (thus Latin vīta > Spanish vida ). The diphthongization of Latin stressed short e and o —which occurred in open syllables in French and Italian, but not at all in Catalan or Portuguese—is found in both open and closed syllables in Spanish, as shown in
14760-622: Was distinguished by a heavy Basque influence (see Iberian Romance languages ). This distinctive dialect spread to southern Spain with the advance of the Reconquista , and meanwhile gathered a sizable lexical influence from the Arabic of Al-Andalus , much of it indirectly, through the Romance Mozarabic dialects (some 4,000 Arabic -derived words, make up around 8% of the language today). The written standard for this new language
14883-713: Was followed by a vowel that did not diphthongize. The h- , still preserved in spelling, is now silent in most varieties of the language, although in some Andalusian and Caribbean dialects, it is still aspirated in some words. Because of borrowings from Latin and neighboring Romance languages, there are many f -/ h - doublets in modern Spanish: Fernando and Hernando (both Spanish for "Ferdinand"), ferrero and herrero (both Spanish for "smith"), fierro and hierro (both Spanish for "iron"), and fondo and hondo (both words pertaining to depth in Spanish, though fondo means "bottom", while hondo means "deep"); additionally, hacer ("to make")
15006-462: Was revoked by Michel Temer after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff . In many border towns and villages along Paraguay and Uruguay, a mixed language known as Portuñol is spoken. Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-speaking country located entirely in Africa, with the language introduced during the Spanish colonial period . Enshrined in the constitution as an official language (alongside French and Portuguese), Spanish features prominently in
15129-542: Was then classified as a major chiefdom center. The Tlatilcans were an agricultural people growing beans, amaranth , squash and chili peppers , reaching their peak from 1000 to 700 BC. The next-oldest confirmed civilization is in the far south of the valley and is called Cuicuilco . This archaeological site is located where Avenida Insurgentes Sur crosses the Anillo Periférico in the Tlalpan borough of
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