CHAPTER III.

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]