FEDERAL DISTRICT

Spanish Distrito Federal, district in central Mexico, the seat of the national government, in a territory that includes a large portion of the Mexico City metropolitan area. The district averages well over 8,000 feet (2,400 metres) in elevation and occupies the southeastern corner of the Valley of Mexico. It is framed by mountain ranges; some of the peaks (such as Ixtacihuatl and Popocatpetl) are volcanic. Vestiges of an important lacustrine region, including Lakes Texcoco and Xochimilco, remain in the southeastern portion of the district, and lava beds are extensive in its southern sections. The Federal District was formerly governed by a regent, or mayor, who was appointed by the president of Mexico. In 1996, however, the Mexican Congress passed legislation converting the mayoralty from an appointed to an elective office, with the mayor directly elected by the district's voting populace. The first election for mayor of the Federal District was held in 1997. The Federal District comprises 16 subordinate delegaciones, all under the mayor, who appoints local officials and others concerned with justice, public works, and fiscal matters. Many of the district's administrative functions remain highly centralized in the mayor's office, but the actual powers of the delegaciones were greatly expanded in the 1980s. Each delegacin has a complicated local history from pre-Columbian days, as well as a special role as an urban, semirural, or agricultural district within the Federal District. The delegaciones are lvaro Obregn, Azcapotzalco, Benito Jurez, Coyoacn, Cuajimalpa de Morelos, Cuauhtmoc, Gustavo A. Madero, Ixtacalco, Ixtapalapa, La Magdalena Contreras, Miguel Hidalgo, Milpa Alta, Tlhuac, Tlalpan, Venustiano Carranza, and Xochimilco. The Federal District is crisscrossed by networks of bus, streetcar, and railway lines terminating in the city, and it contains about a third of the nation's automobiles. The district's transportation system is proving increasingly inadequate to care for its swelling population. Mexico City's subway system was completed in 1970. Clusters of ruins and many pre-Columbian remains are still visible throughout the district, along with colonial Spanish, 19th-century Mexican, and modern buildings. Area 571 square miles (1,479 square km). Pop. (1990) 8,236,960; (1995 est.) 8,489,007.