POPULATION.
POPULATION.--CENSUS.--TABLES OF POPULATION.--RELATIVE DIVISION OF
RACES.--RELATIVE INTELLECTUAL CULTIVATION.--RELATIVE POPULATION IN
HOT AND COLD DISTRICTS.
It is to be regretted that no very accurate census of Mexico has ever
been made, and that since the year 1831, no effort has been persistently
pursued by the government to enumerate its citizens and collect such
statistical data as may always be easily gathered by persons engaged in
this important task. The irregularity of the central or executive power;
the instability of all governments since the establishment of
independence; the intestine quarrels, not only in the capital but in the
departments or states, have all contributed to, and even partially
compelled, this neglect of a great national duty.
In the absence, therefore, of official statistics and reports, we are
obliged to rely upon approximate results, founded on the _partial_
enumerations of preceding years and the calculations of experienced
statesmen and writers. In the following table we shall exhibit all the
most trustworthy statements existing either in Mexican works or in the
writings of reliable authors:--
VARIANCES BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT CALCULATIONS AND CENSUSES OF THE
POPULATION OF MEXICO.
Years. No. of Inhabitants.
1793--Census of the Viceroy Revilla-Gigedo, including
Vera Cruz and Guadalajara, according to an
estimate in 1803, 5,270,029
1803--Geographico-political tables of New Spain, 5,764,731
1810--Semanario economico of Mexico, 5,810,005
1820--Navarro's Memorial on the population of the
kingdom of New Spain, 6,122,354
Calculation of the first Congress, 6,204,000
1831--Actual census of the Mexican Republic, published
by Valdes, 6,382,264
1824--Hon. J. R. Poinsett, 6,500,000
1825--Humboldt, about, 7,000,000
1838--Report of Commissioner of Chamber of Deputies, 7,009,120
1834--Galvan's Mexican Calendar, 7,734,292
1836--Notices of the states and territories of the Mexican
nation, 7,843,132
1830--Mr. Burkhardt--a German author, 7,996,000
1842--An estimate made as the basis for the election of
a Congress, (exclusive of Texas,) 7,015,509
In the year 1838, Señor Jose Gomez de la Cortina,--ex-Conde de la
Cortina, one of the most enlightened citizens of Mexico, published a
carefully prepared essay upon the population of Mexico, in the 1st No.
of the Bulletin of the National Institute of Geography and Statistics of
the Mexican Republic; and his opinion was that the number of inhabitants
greatly exceeded any of the above amounts. By observing the increase of
population in different periods of five years, he considered it
satisfactorily proved by the _Tablas Geographico-politicas_, of 1803,
that the augmentation, in favorable years, was at the rate 1-4/5 _per
cent_. By applying this ratio to the census of the _Tablas_, which gave
in 1803, 5,764,731 inhabitants, we shall have an increase of about
105,000 yearly; and if we calculate at this rate of augmentation for the
46 intervening years, we find in 1850 an increase of 4,830,000, or a
grand total of 10,594,731.
In the year 1842, however, when an estimate was made of a basis of
population, upon which to found a call for a Congress to form a new
constitution under the plan of Tacubaya, in 23 Departments or States and
Territories, exclusive of Texas, the government calculated that there
were 7,015,509 inhabitants.
TABLE OF POPULATION IN 1842.
Departments. Population.
Mexico, 1,389,502
Jalisco, 679,311
Puebla, 661,902
Yucatan, 508,948
Guanajuato, 512,606
Oajaca, 500,278
Michoacan, 497,906
San Luis Potosi, 321,840
Zacatecas, 273,575
Vera Cruz, 254,380
Durango, 162,618
Chihuahua, 147,600
Sinaloa, 147,000
Chiapas, 141,206
Sonora, 124,000
Queretaro, 120,560
Nuevo Leon, 101,108
Tamaulipas, 100,068
Coahuila, 75,340
Aguas Calientes, 69,698
Tabasco, 63,580
Nuevo Mexico, 57,026
Californias, 33,439
----------
7,015,509
{New Mexico, 57,026
Deduct for {Upper California, since 25,000
{ added to the United ------
{ States. 82,026----82,026
----------
Estimated actual population in 1842, 6,933,483
Add 10 per cent. for the probable increase in 7 years 693,348
----------
Proximate actual population in 1850, 7,626,831
This population may be relatively classed among races and castes as
follows:
4,354,886 Indians.
1,100,000 Whites.
2,165,345 Meztizos, Zambos, Mulattoes, &c.
6,600 Negroes.
---------
7,626,831
As Mexico, since the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in 1848, possesses
798,402 square miles, this will give nine inhabitants and a fraction, to
the square mile.
From these calculations we deduce some very important facts as to the
physical and intellectual condition of Mexico, which are very
significant in the illustration of history. It appears that the total
number of pure whites in the republic, is, in all probability, not more
than 1,100,000; while the Indians, Negroes, Zambos, Mulattoes, Meztizos,
and all the mixed bloods, amount to 6,526,831. During our residence in
Mexico we ascertained from reliable authority that among the Indians and
negroes but two _per cent._ could read and write, while among the
whites, and castes, but twenty _per cent._ were estimated to enjoy those
benefits. Thus we have:
87,229 Indians and Negroes able to read and write.
653,069 Whites and mixed castes able to read and write;
or, only seven hundred and forty thousand, two hundred and ninety-eight
individuals, either completely educated or instructed in the simplest
rudiments, out of a population of more than seven and a half millions.
These are startling statistics in regard to the citizens of a nation
whose government is theoretically and practically based on the culture
of the people or their capacity for self-rule; and, when considered in
connexion with the historical details presented in the first volume of
this work, they will show that the distracted condition of Mexico is a
mingled cause and consequence of her intellectual darkness.[7]
One of the most interesting investigations in Mexican statistics would
be to compare the number of births in the regions called the _tierras
calientes_--or hot country, with those in the tierras frias, or _cold
region_. From calculations made by Cortina in 1838, from data derived
from nine departments, he concluded that the excess of births in the
warm regions or _tierras calientes_ was 1-5/10 per 100, over the
_tierras frias_.
He gives the following actual statistics in evidence:
1st. Result of the general census of the department of ZACATECAS since
the year 1824, and progressive increase of population therein before the
separation of the portion of Aguas Calientes:--
Years. Total population. Increase of population biennially.
1824 247,295}
1826 272,901} 25,606
1828 274,537} 1,636
1830 290,044} 15,507
1832 314,121} 24,077
1834 331,781} 17,660
2d. In 1836, after the separation of the portion of Aguas Calientes,
this department had 264,505 inhabitants.
In June, 1838, it had 273,575 "
-------
Increase in one year and a half, 9,070
3d. In the period from 1st of January, 1837 to 30th of June,
1838, there were born in the said department, 21,941
Died in the said department, 12,871
------
Increase of population, 9,070
4th. In the department of Oajaca in 1834, it was calculated that
there were 457,033 inhabitants.
In December, 1838, 500,278 "
-------
Increase in four years, 43,245
RESULTS.
Maximum of annual increase of population in Oajaca, 15,000
Minimum " " " " 6,000
Maximum " " " Zacatecas 12,000
Minimum " " " " 500
Of not less importance are the investigations upon the excess observed
in one sex over the other. Before the appearance of Humboldt's work it
was the opinion that in the New World nature did not follow the same law
of equilibrium in the difference between the sexes as in Europe, and
especially that in the tropical regions, the number of females exceeded
greatly that of the males. Baron Humboldt combated this notion and
demonstrated its error. He presents in his political essay upon New
Spain a table of the population of eight Intendencies, in which it
appears that out of 1,352,835 inhabitants there were 687,935 males and
664,900 females, which establishes a relative proportion of 100 to 95.
In the _Tablas Geografico politicas_, already cited, it is expressly
said that in New Spain, in the Intendencies of the _tierras frias_, or
cold regions, as well as in those of the _tierras calientes_, or hot
regions, the population inclines to a preponderance of males. Don
Fernando Navarro y Noriega gives in his tables of population 71,642 more
males than females; and, in the account of the taxes made by order of
the government in 1781, it appears that the excess is still in favor of
males, though in a much less proportion than assigned by Baron Humboldt.
We present the following table, prepared in Mexico for the purpose of
throwing more light on the subject:
TABLE OF POPULATION IN VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS IN DIFFERENT YEARS--RELATIVE
EXCESES--BIRTHS AND DEATHS.
Years. Departments, States, or Cantons Males. Females. Excess Excess
of States. males. females.
1829 New Mexico 21,799 21,640 159
1819 Alta California 10,979 9,107 1,872
1830 Do. do. 12,473 10,011 2,462
1832 Nuevo Leon 49,571 48,601 970
1829 San Luis Potosi.--See following
table.
1832 Oajaca 237,127 247,887 10,760
1823 Michoacan 178,052 187,028 8,976
{_Canton_ of Vera Cruz 29,851 31,695 1,844
{ " of Misantla 2,451 2,658 207
1831 { " of Papantla 4,279 4,225 54
{ " of Tampico 11,112 12,265 1,153
{ " of Jalacingo 7,816 8,046 230
{ " of Jalapa 19,837 22,867 3,030
1826 Guanajuato 165,896 179,288 13,392
1834 Chihuahua 75,303 69,879 5,424
1838 Tamaulipas 49,235 45,460 3,775
1838 Aguas calientes 33,661 36,032 2,371
1831 Jalisco.--See following table.
1838 Zacatecas. " " "
1821 Tamaulipas 34,356 33,428 928
1833 New Mexico 31,012 26,164 4,848
Births. Deaths. Excess.
Males. Females. Males. Females. Males. Females.
1829 San Luis Potosi--first
six months 4,882 5,159 2,029 1,885 421
1830 Jalisco--whole year 14,307 13,905 13,194 11,972 820
1837 Zacatecas--18 mo's. 10,935 11,006 6,376 6,495 48
1834[8] State of Mexico, except
2 prefectures 18,410 18,804 cholera this year.
1830 Guanajuato----whole
year 14,699 14,252 7,235 7,511 276
It may, generally, be said that the excess of one sex over the other is
in inverse proportion to the latitude; or, in other words, that, as we
advance from the equator, the excess of females over males decreases,
until the reverse occurs as the degrees of latitude augment. We must,
however, except from this rule the department or state of Tamaulipas, in
which the constancy with which nature sustains the excess of males, is
somewhat extraordinary. The most ancient document possessed upon the
subject, relative to this State, is of the year 1793, and from this we
discover that, from that year until 1807, 124 more males than females
were born therein, and that 30 more females than men died during the
period--
More _females_ than males are born in the following States, in the
order in which they are placed:
1. Vera Cruz--greatest number.
2. Oajaca.
3. Puebla.
4. Michoacan.
5. Guanajuato.
6. Jalisco.
More _males_ than females are born in the following States,
according to the order in which they are placed:
1. Alta California--greatest No.
2. New Mexico.
3. Sonora.
4. Chihuahua.
5. Coahuila.
6. New Leon.[9]
[Illustration: INDIANS OF THE TIERRA CALIENTE.]