Mexico (Mexican United States)

Abstract

The formal name of the country is Estados Unidos Mexicanos (Mexican United States). The Mexican federation has a constitutional history of nearly 200 years, but the intellectual background of the federal idea extends further back in time. The word federal was used by the Spanish soldier Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1492–1581) in his testimony of the conquest of Mexico. In Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España, Díaz del Castillo used the word to describe the political associations of several republics of indigenous peoples living in the Valle del Anáhuac before the Spanish Empire in America. The word federal was also used for the political pacts celebrated by the conquistador Hernán Cortés with the enemies of the Aztec Empire, the Tlaxcaltecas and the people of Zempoala.