Concept
Mexicans (Mexicanos) are the citizens and nationals of the United Mexican States. The most spoken language by Mexicans is Spanish, but many also speak languages from 68 different Indigenous linguistic groups and other languages brought to Mexico by recent immigration or learned by Mexican expats residing in other countries. In 2015, 21.5% of Mexico's population self-identified as being Indigenous. There are about 12 million Mexican nationals residing outside Mexico, with about 11.7 million living in the United States. The larger Mexican diaspora can also include individuals that trace ancestry to Mexico and self-identify as Mexican yet are not necessarily Mexican by citizenship. The United States has the largest Mexican population after Mexico in the world at 37,186,361 (2019). The modern nation of Mexico achieved independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, after a decade long war for independence starting in 1810; this began the process of forging a national identity that fused the cultural traits of Indigenous pre-Columbian origin with those of Spanish ancestry. This led to what has been termed "a peculiar form of multi-ethnic nationalism". History of Mexico The Mexican people have varied origins and an identity that has evolved with the succession of conquests among Amerindian groups and later by Europeans. The area that is now modern-day Mexico has cradled many predecessor civilizations, going back as far as the Olmec which influenced the latter civilizations of Teotihuacan (200 BC to 700 AD) and the much debated Toltec people who flourished around the 10th and 12th centuries AD, and ending with the last great indigenous civilization before the Spanish Conquest, the Aztecs (13 March 1325 to 13 August 1521). The Nahuatl language was a common tongue in the region of modern Central Mexico during the Aztec Empire, but after the arrival of Europeans the common language of the region became Spanish.
