Welcome to this lesson on Mexican geography. Mexico (officially: los Estados Unidos Mexicanos - the United Mexican States) is organized into 32 federal entities:

• 31 States - Each with its own constitution and elected governor
• 1 Federal District - Ciudad de México (Mexico City), the nation's capital

In this activity, you'll practice locating each state on a map. This will help you learn the geography of Mexico, which will help you better appreciate regional variations in culture, cuisine, dialects, and traditions throughout the country.

Note:The capital of Mexico was once referred to as Distrito Federal, D.F. or Federal District in English. In 2016, Mexico City (the D.F.) became like a state, the abbreviation D.F. was deprecated and CDMX (Ciudad de México, Mexico City) became more commonly used. Not all road signs have been updated to reflect this change yet. Some that have been updated have simply had the ", D.F." covered so that the sign just reads "México".

To learn more, you can read this article: Mexico City Will Become A State (Rios, 2016)

When Mexicans from other states talk about Mexico City, they often refer to it as Mexico, as in, "I'm going to Mexico this weekend" instead of "I'm going to Mexico City.” There is also a state of Mexico that is always referred to as the state of Mexico, as in "I'm going to the state of Mexico this weekend" instead of "I'm going to Mexico."