Most Mexicans live in the highlands because the high elevation offers a good climate. Since pre-Columbian times, the population of tropical Mexico has been concentrated at elevations above three-thousand feet. The northern half of Mexico lies outside the tropics, the southern half within. The climate varies as much with altitude as with degree of latitude, however. In Mexico City the temperature averages about sixty degrees the year-round and there is light but adequate rainfall. Only ten degrees separate the temperatures in the warmest month from those of the coldest. Throughout the year the daytime temperatures remain pleasant while evenings and nights are cool.
The climate chart of Mexico in Figure 3.4 shows average temperatures (given in Celsius) and rainfall (given in centimeters) for each month. The conversion table for changing Cen-sius into Fahrenheit is pictured in Figure 3.5.
Not surprisingly, young Phillis Wheatley was quite a conversation piece and a curiosity among colonial society. Mexico City Map Tourist Attractions She quickly became known as a brilliant and graceful conversationalist within her master’s Boston circle, and she was usually expected to accompany her owners on their social rounds. Although she might be encouraged to join in parlor conversation, she was nevertheless subjected to segregation, usually taking her meals in the host’s kitchen with the servants rather than at table with the white guests. Likely as a result of her frequent isolation from both white and black companionship, and of the free time she enjoyed because of her exemption from work, Wheatley spent much of her time reading her master’s collection of books. She was particularly fond of poetry, and the English poet Alexander Pope was her favorite. Wheatley began writing poems for her own amusement, and, by the age of 13 (doubtless with her owner’s assistance), she had her first work published.
