Abstract
The necessity of counting with information that allows to do a statistic and geographic diagnose of the country was the origin of creating a Mexican Society of Geography and Statistics, which would be in charge of gathering data in order to get to know the most important characteristics of Mexico, from the extension and richness of the national territory, to the physical and cultural peculiarities of its population. One of the primordial activities of the SMCE was to study the origin and diversity of the Amerindian groups, using methods such as compared philology, or through the historical evaluation of the linguistic traces. From its beginnings the Society counted with people known for their experience in the fields of geography and statistics, like José Justo Gómez de la Cortina, Manuel Orozco y Berra and Francisco Pimentel, who gave their valuable knowledge to the institution.