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The name of ''Mexico'' entails the origin, history, and use of the name ''Mexico'', which dates back to 14th century Mesoamerica. The Nahuatl word ''Mexico'' means ''place of the Mexica'' but the ethnonym ''Mexicatl'' itself is of unknown etymology.〔An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl - Frances Karttunen p145〕 Mexico (country) did not name its capital after itself, as in Mexico City—the accepted name internationally—but the converse actually applies. Before Spanish times, the capital was formally named Tenochtitlan, but was the seat of the Mexica Empire which is known as the Aztec Empire. As far back as 1590, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum showed that the northern part of the New World was known as "America Mexicana" (Mexican America), as Mexico City was the seat for the New Spain viceroyalty. "New Spain" is mistaken as the old name for Mexico, rather than the name of a province of New Mexico that existed during colonial times. Under the Spaniards, Mexico was both the name of the capital and its sphere of influence, most of which exists as Greater Mexico City and the State of Mexico. Some parts of Puebla, Morelos and Hidalgo were also part of Spanish-era Mexico. In 1821, the continental part of New Spain would secede from Spain during the Trienio Liberal, in which Agustin de Iturbide marched triumphantly with his Army of the Three Guarantees (religion, independence, and unity). This was followed by the birth of the short-lived Mexican Empire that used the "Mexico" name according to the system created with the Roman Empire ((ラテン語:Imperium Romanum)), whereby the capital is synonymous with the Empire. This was the first recorded use of "Mexico" as a country title. After the Republic was founded in 1824, a Federation name form was adopted; which was, at most times, more ''de jure'' than ''de facto''. The Mexican Empire name was inherited, leading to the formation of the United Mexican States. Complications arise with the capital's colloquial and semi-official name "Ciudad de Mexico, Distrito Federal (Mexico, D.F.)", which appears on postal addresses and is frequently cited in the media. Legally, the name is simply Distrito Federal (Federal District or District of the Federation). The official name of the country is the "United Mexican States" ((スペイン語:Estados Unidos Mexicanos)), since it is a federation of thirty-one states. The official name was first used in the Constitution of 1824, and was retained in the constitutions of 1857 and 1917. Informally, "Mexico" is used along with "Mexican Republic" (''República Mexicana''). On 22 November 2012, outgoing Mexican President Felipe Calderón proposed changing the official name of the country to simply ''México''. ==Names of the country== When the Spanish conquistadors besieged México-Tenochtitlan in 1521, it was almost completely destroyed. It was rebuilt during the following three years, after which it was designated as a municipality and capital of the vice-royalty of New Spain. In 1524 the municipality of Mexico City was established, known as ''México Tenustitlan'', and as of 1585 became officially known simply ''Ciudad de México''.〔(Historia de la Ciudad de México ) Gobierno del Distrito Federal〕 The name ''Mexico'' was used only to refer to the city, and later to a province within New Spain. It was not until the independence of the vice-royalty of New Spain that "Mexico" became the traditional and conventional short-form name of the country. During the 1810s, different insurgent groups advocated and fought for the independence of the vice-royalty of New Spain. This vast territory was composed of different ''intendencias'' and provinces, successors of the kingdoms and captaincies general administered by the vice-regal capital of Mexico City. In 1813, the deputies of the Congress of Chilpancingo signed the document ''Acta Solemne de la Declaración de Independencia de la América Septentrional'', ("Solemn Act of the Declaration of Independence of Northern America"). In 1814 the Supreme Congress of the revolutionary forces that met at Apatzingán (in today's state of Michoacán) drafted the first constitution,〔(Decreto Constitucional para la Libertad de la América Mexicana )〕 in 1814 whereby the name ''América Mexicana'' ("Mexican America") was chosen for the country. The head of the insurgent forces, however, was defeated by the royalist forces, and the constitution was never enacted. Servando Teresa de Mier, in a treatise written in 1820 in which he discussed the reasons why New Spain was the only overseas territory of Spain that had not yet secured its independence, chose the term ''Anáhuac'' to refer to the country.〔(¿Puede ser libre la Nueva España? )〕 This term, in Nahuatl, was used by the Mexica to refer to the territory they dominated. According to some linguists, it means "near or surrounded by waters", probably in reference to Lake Texcoco,〔(Universidad Anáhuac )〕 even though it was also the word used to refer to the world or the terrestrial universe (as when used in the phrase ''Cem Anáhuac'', "the entire earth") and in which their capital, Mexico-Tenochtitlan, was at the centre and at the same time at the centre of the waters, being built on an island in a lake.〔(A Nahuatl Interpretation of the Conquest )〕 In September 1821, the independence of Mexico was finally recognized by Spain, achieved through an alliance of royalist and revolutionary forces. The former tried to preserve the ''status quo'' of the vice-royalty, menaced by the liberal reforms taking place in Spain, through the establishment of an autonomous constitutional monarchy under an independence hero. Agustín was crowned and given the titles of: Agustin de Yturbide por la divina providencia y por el Congreso de la Nación, primer Emperador Constitucional de Mexico (Agustín de Yturbide First Constitutional Emperor of Mexico by Divine Providence and by the Congress of the Nation). The name chosen for the country was ''Imperio Mexicano'', "Mexican Empire". The empire collapsed in 1823, and the republican forces drafted a constitution the following year whereby a federal form of government was instituted. In the 1824 constitution, which gave rise to the Mexican federation, ''Estados Unidos Mexicanos'' (also ''Estados-unidos mexicanos'') – ''Mexican United States'' or ''Mexican United-States'' (official English translation: ''United Mexican States'') – was adopted as the country's official name.〔(''Constitución federal de los Estados Unidos mexicanos'' (1824) )〕〔(Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States (1824) ) (original scans with Spanish and English text): (Texas Constitutions ), University of Texas at Austin; also see (Printing History )〕 The constitution of 1857 used the term ''República Mexicana'' (''Mexican Republic'') interchangeably with ''Estados Unidos Mexicanos'';〔(''Constitución Federal de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos'' (1857) )〕 the current constitution, promulgated in 1917, only uses the latter〔(''Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos'' (1917) )〕 and ''United Mexican States'' is the normative English translation.〔(1917 Constitution of Mexico ), (Official Site of the Mexican Government ) (English)〕 The name "Mexican Empire" was briefly revived from 1863 to 1867 by the conservative government that instituted a constitutional monarchy for a second time under Maximilian of Habsburg. On 22 November 2012, incumbent President Felipe Calderón sent to the Mexican Congress a piece of legislation to change the country's name officially to simply Mexico. To go into effect, the bill would have to be passed by both houses of Congress, as well as a majority of Mexico's 31 state legislatures. Coming with just a week to go before Calderón turns power over to president elect Enrique Peña Nieto, the president's critics see this as a symbolic gesture.〔(Mexico's President Calderon seeks to change country's name )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Name of Mexico」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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