Chapter 14: MexAmerica

MexAmerica Region

This week the topic is MexAmerica.  MexAmerica is located in the southwest corner of the United States, and spans the entire U.S - Mexico border.  In terms of U.S land, MexAmerica includes portions of Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.  The regions location at the border between the U.S and Mexico results in a unique situations.  For example, the formation of maquiladoras in Mexico and the resulting twin city phenomena is unique to MexAmerica.  We will further discuss this later, but first, we will compare the climate of MexAmerica to the climate of Rehoboth Beach.

Climate plays a major role in how regions develop.  Therefore, comparing climates is a standard for these blog posts.  Similar to The Intermontane West, the MexAmerica climate varies throughout the region.

This picture exemplifies the open, hot, dry climate,
as well as the different elevations seen throughout the
MexAmerica Region

That said, the entire region is linked by one characteristic, hot, dry weather.  Mountains in Southern California, and Northwestern Mexico block most of the onshore moisture coming from the nearby pacific ocean.  Because of this, MexAmerica is essentially in a rain shadow and receives little precipitation.  For example, Phoenix, Arizona only receives an annual average of 8 inches of rain per year.  This is much less than the 44 inch annual average Rehoboth Beach gets.  Eastern parts of MexAmerica are not as dry, and get 20-25 inches of rain annually.  Despite this, the region is still well below the national average, and only gets about half the rain Rehoboth Beach does.  MexAmerica's southern latitudinal position results in very hot summers.  The average temperature for Phoenix in July is 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

Phoenix, Arizona in the distance

Locations further east, or at higher elevations in the region are still pretty hot, but are somewhat cooler overall.  MexAmerica is much hotter than Rehoboth Beach's July average of 87 degrees.  In winter, the MexAmerica region is much cooler.  Phoenix averages a high of 65 and low of 43 degrees in Janurary.  This is still significantly warmer than Rehoboth Beaches average of 30 degrees Fahrenheit in January.  Despite the difference in seasonal temperatures between the two places, they do share a similarity.  Both MexAmerica and Rehoboth Beach experience a swing of about 50 degrees between summer and winter months.  That said, MexAmerica is still hotter on average year round than Rehoboth Beach.  These two very different regions unsurprisingly do not have a lot in common; however, a similarity could still be found, albeit a small one.

MexAmerica is home to a very unique scenario.  Thanks to regulations set in place by NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) numerous maquiladoras in Mexico were formed.  Maquiladoras are assembly plants, or factories that rely on mexican labor.

This map highlights maquiladora production.  The twin city
phenomena can also be seen if you look closely.  For example,
Tijuana is San Diego's twin city.

Often times companies ship raw goods to the maquiladoras for assembly, and then import the finished goods back into the United States for sale. As a result of this, a phenomena called "Twin Cities" formed.  Twin cities refers to the notion that for large cities on the mexican side of the border, there is a U.S equivalent on the other side of the border.  These twin cities often form in places maquiladoras are popular, and provides cities on each respective side of the border to aid in business.  This scenario is not seen in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, or even anywhere else in North America for that matter.  It is unique to MexAmerica and it drives the regions economy.  Therefore, maquiladoras and twin cities are an integral part of MexAmerica and deserve being noted.

Rehoboth Beach, DE and MexAmerica are very different places.  The large distance, and multiple major landforms between the two locations are partially responsible for the vast amount of differences.  It is not surprising that a northeastern town on the coast is vastly different from a southwestern region that is blocked in by mountains to the west.  Next week we will have made our way across the United States and will be discussing California.  The comparison between a state on the east coast vs a state on the west coast is sure to be interesting, so do not forget to check it out.

Until Next Time,
William