Buena Vista - in 1847 United States forces under Zachary Taylor defeated Mexican forces under Santa Anna in the Mexican War

Chapultepec - a victory by American over Mexican forces in the Mexican War (1847)

Mexican Revolution - 1910-1911

mole - spicy sauce often containing chocolate

chili, chili con carne - ground beef and chili peppers or chili powder often with tomatoes and kidney beans

enchilada - tortilla with meat filling baked in chili-seasoned tomato sauce

tamale - corn and cornmeal dough stuffed with a meat mixture then wrapped in corn husks and steamed

tortilla - thin unleavened pancake made from cornmeal or wheat flour

taco - a tortilla rolled cupped around a filling

burrito - a flour tortilla folded around a filling

tostada - a crisp flat tortilla

frijoles refritos, refried beans - dried beans cooked and mashed and then fried in lard with various seasonings

OAS, Organization of American States - an association of countries in the western hemisphere; created in 1948 to promote military and economic and social and cultural cooperation

North American country, North American nation - a country on the North American continent

Mesoamerica - Mexico and Central America

Yucatan, Yucatan Peninsula - a peninsula in Central America extending into the Gulf of Mexico between the Bay of Campeche and the Caribbean Sea

Acapulco, Acapulco de Juarez - a port and fashionable resort city on the Pacific coast of southern Mexico; known for beaches and water sports (including cliff diving)

Ciudad Juarez, Juarez - a city in northern Mexico on the Rio Grande opposite El Paso

Ciudad Victoria - a city in east central Mexico

Culiacan - a city in northwestern Mexico

Durango, Victoria de Durango - a city in north central Mexico; mining center

Guadalajara - a city in southwestern Mexico; a popular health resort and site of architecture from the Spanish colonial era

Hermosillo - a city in northwestern Mexico near the Gulf of California

Leon - a city in central Mexico

Matamoros - a city in northeastern Mexico opposite Brownsville near the mouth of the Rio Grande

Mazatlan - a port city in western Mexico on the Pacific Ocean; tourist center

Mexicali - a city in northwestern Mexico near the California border

capital of Mexico, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexican capital, Mexico City - the capital and largest city of Mexico is a political and cultural and commercial and industrial center; one of the world's largest cities

Monterrey - an industrial city in northeastern Mexico

Nogales - a town in northern Mexico on the border of Arizona

Oaxaca, Oaxaca de Juarez - a city of southeastern Mexico

Orizaba - a city of east central Mexico (west of Veracruz); a popular resort

Heroica Puebla de Zaragoza, Puebla, Puebla de Zaragoza - a city in south central Mexico (southeast of Mexico City) on the edge of central Mexican plateau

Heroica Puebla de Zaragoza, Puebla, Puebla de Zaragoza - a city in south central Mexico (southeast of Mexico City) on the edge of central Mexican plateau

San Luis Potosi - a city in central Mexico

Santa Maria del Tule - a town in southeastern Mexico near Oaxaca; site of Ahuehuete, a giant Montezuma cypress

Tepic - a city in west central Mexico

Tampico - a port city in eastern Mexico

Torreon - a city in northern Mexico west of Monterrey

Tuxtla Gutierrez - a city in southeastern Mexico

Veracruz - a major Mexican port on the Gulf of Mexico in the state of Veracruz

Villahermosa - a city in southeastern Mexico

Citlaltepetl, Mount Orizaba, Mt Orizaba, Pico de Orizaba - an extinct volcano in southern Mexico between Mexico City and Veracruz; the highest peak in Mexico (18,695 feet)