MEXICO 



5384 



Mexico. Ground plan showing the principal buildings and thoroughfares of 

 the city 



god of the Aztecs. It lies on the N. 

 side of the Plaza de la Constitucion ; 

 on the E. side is the national palace 

 which contains, besides the public 

 offices, the national museum, 

 housing a unique collection of 

 Aztec relics. The national obser- 

 vatory and meteorological bureau 

 are close by. Facing the cathedral 

 is the city hall. On the Plaza de la 

 Republica is the legislative palace, 

 one of the finest edifices in Latin 

 America. The building in which, 

 in 1536, was established the first 

 printing press in the American 

 continent, still stands. In 1693 the 

 Mercurio Volante, the first Ameri- 

 can newspaper, was published in 

 the city. 



The Plaza de la Constitucion, or 

 Plaza de Armas, or Plaza Mayor, is 

 the centre of the city ; it covers 

 14 acres, and the park and promen- 

 ade, the Alameda, covers 40 acres 

 Many of the houses have terraced 

 roofs and inner courts, and the 

 older quarters maintain the charac- 

 teristic appearance of a Spanish 

 city. There are frequent though 

 slight earthquakes. The present 

 city was founded by Cortes in 

 1522 on the site of the Aztec 

 capital, Tenochtitlan, which occu- 

 pies a number of islands in Lake 

 Texcoco ; the lake is now 2 m. E. 

 of the city. 2 m. S.W. is the hill 

 of Chapultepec, where Montezuma 

 had a palace. In 1824 the city 

 became the capital of the republic. 

 Pop. 470,000. 



Mexico, FEDERAL DISTRICT OF. 

 Territory acquired from the state 

 of Mexico for the specific use of 

 the Federal Government of Mexico. 

 It is enclosed on three sides by the 

 state of Mexico, being bordered S. 

 by the state of Morelos, and covers 

 an area of 578 sq. m. The city of 



Mexico and twelve other munici- 

 palities are situated within its 

 limits. Pop. 763,500. 



Mexico, GULF OF. Great inland 

 gulf or sea, forming a westward ex- 

 tension of the Atlantic Ocean. Al- 

 most entirely enclosed by land, it 

 has the U.S.A. on the N., Mexico 

 on the W. and S., the peninsulas of 

 Florida and Yucatan constricting 

 the two entrances. It has a greatest 

 length from E. to W. of 1,150 m., 

 a greatest breadth N. to S. of 680 

 m., and an area of more than 

 700,000 sq. m. The two channels, 

 the Strait of Florida on the N. and 

 Yucatan Channel on the S., formed 

 by the island of Cuba, are shallow, 

 but the gulf has a depth of more 

 than 2,000 fathoms at a point be- 

 tween the mouth of the Mississippi 

 and the Yucatan peninsula, and 

 reaches a maximum depth of 2,119 

 fathoms in about 25 7' N. and 89 

 37' W., while the greater part of its 

 expanse has a depth in excess of 

 1,650 fathoms. 



Several large rivers empty their 

 waters into the gulf, the most im- 

 portant being the Mississippi, Rio 

 Grande del Norte, Colorado, Sabine, 

 Brazos, Mobile, and Apalachicola. 

 Apart from the Bay of Campeche 

 there are no pronounced indenta- 

 tions, and the best harbours are 

 Galveston, New Orleans. Mobile, 

 Pensacola, and Tampa, Vera Cruz, 

 Key West, and Havana. The Gulf 

 Stream passes into the gulf through 

 the Yucatan channel and makes its 

 exit by the Strait of Florida, its 

 pressure giving the gulf a tempera- 

 ture of some 8 in excess of that of 

 the open ocean in the same degree 

 of latitude. See Gulf Stream. 



Meyer. Name of a German firm 

 of publishers and booksellers. It 

 was founded at Gotha in 1826 by 



Joseph Meyer (1796-1856), the son 

 of a shoemaker, under the name of 

 the Bibliographical Institute. From 

 this, Meyer's large Konversations- 

 Lexikon or encyclopedia, in 43 

 vols., with maps and illustrations, 

 was issued (1839-55). Joseph's son 

 Hermann Julius (1826-1909), after 

 spending seven years in America, 

 where he established a branch of 

 the Institute, took over his father's 

 business, and removed it to Leipzig 

 in 1874. He brought out an 

 abridged edition of the encyclo- 

 pedia in 15 vols. (1857-60), to 

 which supplementary vols. were 

 added ; dictionaries on special sub- 

 jects; guide-books; and colloquial 

 linguistic manuals of European and 

 Oriental languages. His two sons, 

 Hans (b. 1858) and Arndt (b. 1859) 

 entered the business, which from 

 1895 was under their sole manage- 

 ment. Hans was also an intrepid 

 explorer. After travelling in E. 

 Asia, N. America, and S. Africa., he 

 devoted himself to the exploration 

 of Kilima-Njaro, which he was the 

 first to ascend in 1889. Pron. My-er. 



Meyer, CONRAD FERDINAND 

 (1825-98). . Swiss novelist and 

 poet. Born at Zurich, Oct. 12, 

 1825, he studied law there, and 

 after some years devoted to his- 

 torical studies in Italy and France, 

 settled in 1875 at Kilchberg. He 

 died, Nov. 28, 1898. As an author, 

 Meyer stands aloof from all con- 

 troversy, his point of view being 

 solely that of the disinterested 

 artist. His work, which deals 

 mainly with the medieval and 

 Renaissance periods, is marked 

 by insight into character and 

 motive, and by a polished style. 

 See Life, A. Frey, 1900; Memoir by 

 his sister, B. Meyer, 1903. 



Meyer, EDUARD (b. 1855). Ger- 

 man historian. Born at Hamburg, 

 Jan. 25, 1855, he was educated at 

 Bonn an d 

 Leipzig. In 



1884 he became 

 professor of 

 ancient history 

 at Leipzig, in 



1885 at Bres- 

 lau, in 1889 at 

 Halle, and in 

 1902 at Berlin. 

 Specialising in 

 ancient his- 

 tory, he approached the subject 

 from a new standpoint, basing his 

 interpretation upon the investiga- 

 tion of comparative philology, folk- 

 lore, numismatics, and monuments, 

 as well as upon a close study of 

 documents. His chief works are 

 Geschichte des Altertums (History 

 of Antiquity), 1884 ; The Origin of 

 Judaism, 1896 ; History of the Mor- 

 mons, 1912 ; Caesar's Monarchy and 

 the Principate of Pompey, 1918. 



Eduard Meyer, 

 German historian 



