Portal:North America/Geography/Selected city/1
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Mexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the most important economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country; the most populous city with over 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008. Greater Mexico City incorporates 59 adjacent municipalities of the State of Mexico and 1 municipality of the State of Hidalgo. In the last national census (2005) Greater Mexico City had a population of 19.2 million people, making it the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere and the third largest in the world by population. The estimated population for the Metropolitan Area is 19,826,918 as of 2008. In 2005, it ranked the eighth in terms of GDP (PPP) among urban agglomerations in the world. Aside from São Paulo it is the only Beta global city with 8 points in Latin America.
Mexico City is located in the Valley of Mexico, a large valley in the high plateaus at the center of Mexico. It was originally built as Tenochtitlan by the Aztecs in 1325 on an island of Lake Texcoco. The city was almost completely destroyed in the siege of 1521, and was redesigned and rebuilt in the following years following the Spanish urban standards. In 1524 the municipality of Mexico City was established, known as México Tenustitlán, and as of 1585 it is officially known as ciudad de México.