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Mexico City

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Mexico City (Spanish: Ciudad de México, México, D.F., and occasionally México) is the capital and largest city in Mexico. Mexico City is also the Federal District. It is the most important political, economic, cultural and financial center in the country and a global city in Latin America. Located in the Valley of Mexico, a large valley in the high plateaus at the center of Mexico, at an altitude of 2,240 metres (7,300 ft), the city consists of sixteen boroughs. Its 2009 estimated population exceeds 8.84 million people, and with a land area of 1,485 square kilometres (573 sq mi), Mexico City is the most densely populated city in the country.

According to the most recent definition agreed upon by the federal and state governments, the Mexico City metropolitan area's population is 21.2 million people, making it the largest metropolitan area in the Americas and the third largest agglomeration in the world. The entire metropolitan area had a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $390 billion USD in 2005, making Mexico City the 25th largest economy in the world, richer (as measured by the GDP of the entire metropolitan area) than industrialized countries such as Taiwan and developing countries like Iran. It is also ranked as the eighth richest (by the overall GDP of the entire metropolitan area) city in the world. According to Mexican-produced estimates, as of 2008, the city proper, as opposed to the metropolitan area, had a nominal income per capita of $25,258 USD, above the national average ($10,321 USD), and on par with those of Portugal, which has a comparable population, and significantly above South Korea, and Czech Republic. However, according to the same estimates, the per capita income of the entire metropolitan area is slightly above US$11,000, essentially in line with that of the country.

The city was originally built as Tenochtitlan by the Aztecs in 1325 on an island of Lake Texcoco, which was almost completely destroyed in the siege of 1521, and subsequently redesigned and rebuilt in accordance with the Spanish urban standards. In 1524, the municipality of Mexico City was established, known as México Tenustitlán, and as of 1585 it was officially known as Mexico City. Mexico City served as the political, administrative and financial centre of a major part of the Spanish colonial empire. After independence from Spain was achieved, the Federal District was created in 1824.

Urbanization has had a serious negative effect on the city's environment. Pollution, dwindling water supply and poor air quality remain as the city's biggest problems. Many factors such as industrial growth and a demographic boom (from 3 million in 1950 to some 20 million in the metropolitan area today) have contributed to this situation. More than 3.5 million vehicles are now in the city streets. Although crime rates are still an issue of concern, by 2006 they had been reduced by almost 40% from 1994's historic highs.