Gulf of Mexico numerous bays and smaller inlets. A number of rivers empty into the gulf, most notably the Mississippi River and Rio Grande in the northern gulf, and the Grijalva and Usumacinta rivers in the southern gulf. The land that forms the gulf's coast, including many long, narrow barrier islands, is almost uniformly low-lying and is characterized by marshes and swamps as well as stretches of sandy beach. The Gulf of Mexico is an excellent example of a passive margin. The continental shelf is quite wide at most points along the coast, most notably at the Florida and Yucatán Peninsulas. The shelf
State of Mexico the west of Mexico City and a panhandle that extends around the north and east of this entity. The state name is simply "México" according to the 1917 Constitution of the United Mexican States, but to distinguish it from both the city and the country it is most often called "Estado de México". The demonym used to refer to people and things from the state is "mexiquense", distinct from "mexicano" ("Mexican"), which describes the people or things from the country as a whole. "Mēxihco" was originally the Nahuatl name for the Valley of Mexico where the cities of the Mexica