LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Mexico City: Federal District
built 627 days ago
The most recognizable icon of Mexico City is the golden Angel of Independence. found on the wide, elegant avenue Paseo de la Reforma, modeled by the order of the Emperor Maximilian of Mexico after the Champs-Élysées in Paris. This avenue was designed to connect the National Palace (seat of government) with the Castle of Chapultepec, the imperial residence. Today, this avenue is an important financial district in which the Mexican Stock Market is located. Another important avenue, is the Avenida de los Insurgentes, which extends 28.8 km (18 miles), and is one of the longest single avenues in the world.
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Mexico City is a federal district, much like Washington, D.C., and is technically not a state. It is the seat of the federal government. Situated in the Valley of Mexico, Mexico City is surrounded by the State of Mexico. The entire Valley of Mexico (which includes the Federal District, the State of Mexico and the State of Morelos) has about 20 million inhabitants.
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Mexico City forms the core of the Federal District and is the commercial, industrial, financial, political, and cultural center of the nation. Among its diverse and important manufactures are chemicals, petroleum, food products, textiles, automobiles, machinery, pharmaceuticals, and consumer items. Population has increased rapidly in a city that had already spread out into many residential sections called colonias. Iztapalapa and Gustavo A. Madero are the largest suburbs of the Federal District; Coyoacán is the oldest, with a palace built by Cortés. The metropolitan area of Mexico City is currently the largest in the world, but it suffers from severe overcrowding. There are many run-down neighborhoods without essential services and large areas inhabited by squatters; it is estimated that close to one third of the city's residents are without sewage facilities.
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The citizens of Mexico City ... began to demand more self-government for the city. The first concession to returning power more directly to residents was the creation of the Assembly for the Federal District in 1988. The Federal District was divided into districts, each represented by an assembly member. Despite the existence of the Assembly, most power remained in the hands of the head of the Department of the Federal District.
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Mexico City dominates the nation’s economy. The Federal District produces a significant portion of Mexico's gross domestic product, or GDP. The federal district area accounted for 12 percent of GDP in 1998. Mexico City is the center of a manufacturing belt that stretches from Guadalajara in the west to Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico in the east. Manufactures include textiles, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, electrical and electronic items, steel, and transportation equipment. Foodstuffs and light consumer goods are ... produced.
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Mexico City then entered into a period of development as a hybrid city. The city took on a grid pattern of streets radiating off of a large central plaza. The cathedral, royal palace, and offices of the municipal government surrounded the central plaza, which was eventually called the Zócalo. The Spanish district of the city radiated out some ten blocks from the plaza. This part of the city came to be known as the traza. Beyond the traza was the Indian city.
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