Mexico (Pampanga)

Mexico is a first class municipality in the province of Pampanga, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it had a population of 154,624 people.The town was renamed after Mexico, a country in North America after being confused with its native name "Masiku" which is often taken as "Elbowed" (elbowing river: macasicung ilug). Some theories attribute the name to "Siku"; an Old Kapampangan term for Chico or Sapodilla which grew richly in the town. It has residential, commercial and recreational developments such as SM Pampanga and Beverly Place.BarangaysMexico is administratively subdivided into 43 barangays.HistoryIn the 16th century, the site was a crossing point between the Áitâ Mag-Anchî and Áinu nations at the upper reaches of the Ábakan River and the international port cities of Bétis and Lúbao to the south. Upland products such as deerskins and beeswax became important commodities to the 16th-century Japanese who made candles out of beeswax and samurai armours out of deerskins. Plying their goods down the Ábakan River, these upland traders would have had no choice but to slow down and dock at the place “where the river bends” or “where the river has an elbow” before continuing their trip downstream. From there, the river is matúlid all the way to its mouth at Uáuâ. Enterprising merchants from Lusòng Guo and perhaps even from Japan and China formed a trading base at this natural checkpoint known as Makisíku or Másíku. Japanese sources credited the introduction of candles into the Japanese homes to renowned Hakata merchants Shimai Shoushitsu and Kamiya Soutan both of whom were known to have had trading bases in Lusòng Guo.