Mexico Curiosities: from color TV to the world’s tallest pyramid
May 3, 2024
Jean G. Fowler
Latest Modification Date: 5/3/24
Mexico is filled with so many things that make it a special place. Not only are the people warm, it has a rich history, amazing-mouth-watering gastronomy, natural wonders, unique traditions, and reasons to visit, it also has fascinating curiosities that have captivated travelers for centuries. Here are some intriguing facts about this diverse country:
1.- The meteorite that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago landed in Mexico, in a coastal town known as Chicxulub, in the state of Yucatán. The crater is 180 kilometers wide and was discovered in 1981.
2.- Color TV was patented by Mexican inventor Guillermo González Camarena in 1938, when he created a system for transmitting color television, the Sequential Trichromatic Field System (known as STSC). He also later invented, in the 1960s, a simpler system for generating color, the Simplified Bicolor System. In 1950, Columbia College in Chicago requested the manufacturing of the television system from the young Mexican researcher, and color television equipment designed and manufactured in Mexico was exported to the neighboring country.
3.- Mexico has 69 national languages—68 indigenous languages and Spanish—placing it among the top 10 nations with the most native languages and ranking second in this characteristic in Latin America, after Brazil. There are almost 7 million speakers of some indigenous language. Close to 860,000 people in Mexico speak the Mayan language, the second most spoken language in the country after Nahuatl.
4.- We can thank Mexico for drinking chocolate since it was the country that introduced cocoa to the world, the root of one of the most delicious products. The Olmecs (1500 to 400 B.C.) were the first humans to cultivate and taste cocoa in the form of a beverage as follows: they ground cocoa beans, mixed them with water, and added spices, chili peppers, and herbs. Over the centuries, cocoa culture spread to the Mayan civilization (600 B.C.) and the Aztecs (1400 A.C.).
5.- Mexico City ranks in the top 5 cities worldwide with the most museums. It has 170 museums and 43 galleries.
6.- The word Mexico comes from the words in the Nahuatl language: metztli, which means moon; xictli, navel or center. Both literally and metaphorically mean "in the navel of the moon"; or in other words, "in the center of the lake of the moon".
7.- Many think that the pyramids in Egypt are the tallest in the world. But actually, Mexico has the biggest one on the planet. The Great Pyramid of Cholula, Puebla, measures 450 meters by 450 meters, rising 55 meters above the plain where it began construction around 300 BCE. It’s also known as the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl; The monument is the largest ever built in history, as documented by Guinness.
8.- The first printing press in the American continent was in Mexico in the year 1539. Founded in 1539 at the Mexican branch of Juan Cromberger's printing press in the city of Tenochtitlan, just 18 years after the fall of Tenochtitlan, through the Italian Giovanni Paoli, or Juan Pablos, who, along with his wife Jerónima Gutiérrez, was sent by the printer to the emerging territory of New Spain by the Sevillian of German descent Juan Cromberger.
The first book printed by Juan Pablos was the "Breve y compendiosa doctrina cristiana en lengua mexicana y castellana" (Brief and Compendious Christian Doctrine in Mexican and Spanish languages). From the first printing press came religious books and pamphlets intended for the Christianization of the indigenous people and for reading in the convents.
Are you interested in discovering more about Mexico’s fascinating history? Check out our blog posts while you’re here!
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Mexico Curiosities: from color TV to the world’s tallest pyramid
May 3, 2024
Jean G. Fowler
Mexico Curiosities: from color TV to the world’s tallest pyramid
May 3, 2024
Jean G. Fowler
Mexico is filled with so many things that make it a special place. Not only are the people warm, it has a rich history, amazing-mouth-watering gastronomy, natural wonders, unique traditions, and reasons to visit, it also has fascinating curiosities that have captivated travelers for centuries. Here are some intriguing facts about this diverse country:
1.- The meteorite that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago landed in Mexico, in a coastal town known as Chicxulub, in the state of Yucatán. The crater is 180 kilometers wide and was discovered in 1981.
2.- Color TV was patented by Mexican inventor Guillermo González Camarena in 1938, when he created a system for transmitting color television, the Sequential Trichromatic Field System (known as STSC). He also later invented, in the 1960s, a simpler system for generating color, the Simplified Bicolor System. In 1950, Columbia College in Chicago requested the manufacturing of the television system from the young Mexican researcher, and color television equipment designed and manufactured in Mexico was exported to the neighboring country.
3.- Mexico has 69 national languages—68 indigenous languages and Spanish—placing it among the top 10 nations with the most native languages and ranking second in this characteristic in Latin America, after Brazil. There are almost 7 million speakers of some indigenous language. Close to 860,000 people in Mexico speak the Mayan language, the second most spoken language in the country after Nahuatl.
4.- We can thank Mexico for drinking chocolate since it was the country that introduced cocoa to the world, the root of one of the most delicious products. The Olmecs (1500 to 400 B.C.) were the first humans to cultivate and taste cocoa in the form of a beverage as follows: they ground cocoa beans, mixed them with water, and added spices, chili peppers, and herbs. Over the centuries, cocoa culture spread to the Mayan civilization (600 B.C.) and the Aztecs (1400 A.C.).
Latest Modification Date: 5/3/24
5.- Mexico City ranks in the top 5 cities worldwide with the most museums. It has 170 museums and 43 galleries.
6.- The word Mexico comes from the words in the Nahuatl language: metztli, which means moon; xictli, navel or center. Both literally and metaphorically mean "in the navel of the moon"; or in other words, "in the center of the lake of the moon".
7.- Many think that the pyramids in Egypt are the tallest in the world. But actually, Mexico has the biggest one on the planet. The Great Pyramid of Cholula, Puebla, measures 450 meters by 450 meters, rising 55 meters above the plain where it began construction around 300 BCE. It’s also known as the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl; The monument is the largest ever built in history, as documented by Guinness.
8.- The first printing press in the American continent was in Mexico in the year 1539. Founded in 1539 at the Mexican branch of Juan Cromberger's printing press in the city of Tenochtitlan, just 18 years after the fall of Tenochtitlan, through the Italian Giovanni Paoli, or Juan Pablos, who, along with his wife Jerónima Gutiérrez, was sent by the printer to the emerging territory of New Spain by the Sevillian of German descent Juan Cromberger.
The first book printed by Juan Pablos was the "Breve y compendiosa doctrina cristiana en lengua mexicana y castellana" (Brief and Compendious Christian Doctrine in Mexican and Spanish languages). From the first printing press came religious books and pamphlets intended for the Christianization of the indigenous people and for reading in the convents.
Are you interested in discovering more about Mexico’s fascinating history? Check out our blog posts while you’re here!
