Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a vast North American nation bordering the US, Guatemala, and Belize, covering nearly 2 million square kilometers and home to over 134 million people, making it the world's tenth-most populous country and the largest Spanish-speaking nation. Its rich history began with advanced Mesoamerican civilizations like the Olmecs and Maya, followed by Spanish colonization in 1521, which established New Spain and eventually led to the 1810–1821 War of Independence. The 19th century was turbulent, marked by the loss of half its territory in the 1848 Mexican-American War, a French intervention that installed Emperor Maximilian I, and the long dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, which was toppled by the 1910–1920 Mexican Revolution and the adoption of the 1917 Constitution. After a period of rapid industrialization, Mexico shifted to neoliberalism in the 1990s, signing NAFTA in 1994, and today operates as a federal republic with 32 autonomous states and a presidential system. As a newly industrialized country with the world's 13th-largest economy, it ranks first in the Americas for UNESCO World Heritage Sites, is among the top five most biodiverse nations, and attracted 42.2 million international visitors in 2022, solidifying its status as a regional and emerging global power.