MEXICAN RESOURCES. 



AREA. 



The territory of the Mexican Republic extends from north latitude 15° to 32°; 

 and from 12° 18' 46" of east longitude, to 18° 6' 15" of west longitude of the meri- 

 dian of the City of Mexico, the capital ; this being in west longitude from Green- 

 wich, 99° s' 25." The territory contiguous on the north belongs to the United 

 States, and that on the south to Guatemala, while the Gulf of Mexico bathes its 

 eastern shores, and the Pacific its western, giving to it a coast-line of nearly 6,000 

 miles. Within the above limits is inclosed a superficial area of 1,958,912 square 

 kilometres, or 766,000 square miles. Its greatest length, along the a.xis of the 

 territory, mainly represented by the gigantic dorsal ridge of the Sierra Madre, is 

 1,970 miles, in a straight line from the northwestern extremity of Lower California 

 to the southern border of Chiapas. Its maximum breadth, from east to west, on 

 the line of north latitude 26°, is about 750 miles, and its minimum, at the Isthmus 

 of Tehuantepec, 140 miles. . _ 



BOUNDARIES. 



In ancient times New Spain included the territory lying between north latitude 

 15° and 42°. By the treaty between Spain and the United States fTcb. 22, 1819), 

 the boundary was defined as commencing at the mouth of the Sabine River of 

 Texas. By the Treaty of Guadalupe (Feb. 2, 1848), the Rio Grande, or Rio Bravo 

 del Norte, forms the division between Mexico and the United States, starting at a 

 point three leagues from its mouth. By the " Gadsden Purchase " Convention, 

 1S53, the United States received a further addition of Mexican territory, amounting 

 to 45,535 square miles. The dividing line between the two republics now follows 

 the course of the Rio Grande, north, to north latitude 31° 47', thence 100 miles 

 westward on the same parallel, whence it runs south to parallel 31° 11', follows this 

 line to meridian 111° from Greenwich, thence northwest to the Rio Colorado, and 

 up that river to the boundary between Upper and Lower California, which is fol- 

 lowed to a point south of San Diego, on the Pacific. Prior to the treaty of 1848, 

 it was estimated that the area of Mexico was over 1,650,000 square miles; but, by 

 comparison, it will be seen that the United States gained over half this territory, 

 by an excess of 100,000 square miles. 



I 



