In general, colonias () are neighborhoods in Mexican cities, which have no jurisdictional autonomy or representation. It is plausible that the name, which literally means 'colony', arose in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when one of the first urban developments outside

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

's core was inhabited by a French colony in the city. Usually ''colonias'' are assigned a specific

postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal ...

; nonetheless, in recent urban developments, gated communities are also defined as ''colonias'' and share the postal code of adjacent neighborhoods. In spite of this, the name of the ''colonia'' must be specified when writing an address in large urban areas in Mexico. It is a similar concept to the

barangay A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolita ...

s of the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

References

Diccionario Español: Colonia (In Spanish)
{{Mexico-stub Demographics of Mexico Neighbourhoods in Mexico

See also

References