State of Mexico

The State of Mexico (Estado de México; esˈtaðo ðe ˈmexiko), officially just Mexico (México), is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Commonly known as Edomex (from Estado de México) to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is the most populous, as well as the most densely populated, state in the country. Located in south-central Mexico, the state is divided into 125 municipalities. The state capital city is Toluca de Lerdo ("Toluca"), while its largest city is Ecatepec de Morelos ("Ecatepec"). The State of Mexico surrounds Mexico City on three sides and borders the states of Querétaro and Hidalgo to the north, Morelos and Guerrero to the south, Michoacán to the west, and Tlaxcala and Puebla to the east. The territory that now comprises the State of Mexico once formed the core of the Pre-Hispanic Aztec Empire. During the Spanish colonial period, the region was incorporated into New Spain. After gaining independence in the 19th century, Mexico City was chosen as the capital of the new nation; its territory was separated out of the state. Years later, parts of the state were broken off to form the states of Hidalgo, Guerrero and Morelos. These territorial separations have left the state with the size and shape it has today, with the Toluca Valley to the west of Mexico City and a panhandle that extends around the north and east of this entity. The demonym used to refer to people and things from the state is mexiquense, distinct from mexicano ('Mexican'), which describes the people or things from the country as a whole. Name of Mexico Mēxihco was originally the Nahuatl name for the Valley of Mexico where the cities of the Mexica (the proper name for the Aztec Triple Alliance) were located. As such, the district that became Mexico City was properly known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan in the years shortly before and after Spanish conquest. After the Spanish Conquest, the term México came to be used for Tenochtitlan/Mexico City and all the pre-conquest lands it controlled, including several other aforementioned Mexican states originally incorporated in the boundaries of the Mexico state.