Perhaps due to its exceptionally violent history, Mexico has not attracted the mass immigration from Europe that has done so much to shape the rest of the continent. And given the large native population present when Cortes landed- estimated at 7 or 8 million -the country has retained a distinctively Indian identity. Indeed, ever since the Zapotec-born President Juarez's time, there has been a pronounced national bias in favor of the Indian culture and race in official pronouncements and in public monuments. How deeply this feeling really permeates is hard to assess, since Mexico retains a highly stratified, class-based society in which pale faces seem more often than not to occupy the positions of real power. It may also be more than a coincidence that the majority of people in the poorest regions of the south are Indian.
Indeed, the socialist ideology proclaimed by successive revolutionary and elected governments is embarrassingly at odds with the glaring contrasts in income and wealth that are the actualities of life in Mexico. That political stability has been maintained is due largely to the skill of the majority party in co-opting opposition groups while retaining the support of its traditional allies. The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) has controlled Mexican politics since it was formed in 1929. Its power base is a triple alliance with labour, the peasantry and state employees. The PRI is now so closely intertwined with the government apparatus that it is difficult to untangle them: thus the party supports the state and vice versa.
Since opposition parties were banned until a few years ago and are still very weak - as recent elections showed - policies are deter-mined by the results of power struggles within the PRI. The most vital of these conflicts is about choosing a party candidate for the presidency. Since the PRI candidate always wins, and the president has almost absolute power, the choice is critical both to the country and the party, for the successful candidate holds office for six years. However, he is then barred from ever seeking re-election - one of the few rules in Mexican politics.
Culturally, the country is very rich. It has produced not only Rivera but two other great masters of the mural - Jose Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros; internationally famous writers such as Octavio Paz and Carlos Fuentes; modern architects such as Luis Barragan and Pedro Ramirez Vazquez. It possesses a wealth of Indian cultures, which contribute to contemporary song and dance, as performed by Mexico's renowned folklore ballet company. And, as in the beginning, it has its numberless treasures of other, unknown masters - the sculptors, artists and architects of the early civilizations.
Locals hypothesize that the legacy of Italian blood and culture in Cologne, colonized by the Romans more than 1500 years ago, makes the people more jovial and lighthearted. Cologne is the largest city on the Rhine.
Kolsch is not only the dialect spoken here but, also the name of their own top-fermented beer. There are more than 4,000 pubs, restaurant's and brewery taverns in Cologne.
Unlike many of the world's large cities, Cologne, with a population of over a million, gets better every day, there are more things to do and see, more new and innovative buildings... more
Travel is an opportunity to learn, whether geography, languages, history or other subjects.
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Cologne is situated on the beautiful Rhine River.