Azcapotzalco

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Azcapotzalco

Azcapotzalco ( From Nahuatl Azcalli=ant; Potzulli=ant hill; co= place; Lteraly, "In the place of the ant hills") is one of the 16 delegaciones

Boroughs of the Mexican Federal District

Mexico City ? politically and administratively constituted as the Federal District ? is divided into sixteen boroughs for administrative purposes....
(boroughs) into which Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
's Federal District is divided. Azcapotzalco is in the northwestern part of Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the most important economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country; the most populous city with over 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008....
. It was a town of its own until it was swallowed up by the burgeoning conurbation of Mexico City.

Today, Azcapotzalco is divided into many colonias
Colonias of Mexico City

In Mexico, the neighborhoods of large metropolitan areas are known as colonias. One theory suggests 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's core was built by a French immigrant colony....
(neighborhoods), including Nueva Santa María, Clavería, San Rafael, El Rosario, Villas de Azcapotzalco, El Recreo, Pro-Hogar, Obrero Popular and Santa Cruz Acayucan.

of the Spanish Colonial Style architecture is still in use in Azcapotzalco; of particular note is the Church of St.

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Encyclopedia

Azcapotzalco ( From Nahuatl Azcalli=ant; Potzulli=ant hill; co= place; Lteraly, "In the place of the ant hills") is one of the 16 delegaciones

Boroughs of the Mexican Federal District

Mexico City ? politically and administratively constituted as the Federal District ? is divided into sixteen boroughs for administrative purposes....
(boroughs) into which Mexico

Mexico

Mexico City

History

Spanish Influence

Much of the Spanish Colonial Style architecture is still in use in Azcapotzalco; of particular note is the Church of St. James and St. Philip, with its chapel of the Virgin of Rosario and the associated Dominican

Dominican Order

The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Roman Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic in the early 13th century in France....
monastery.

The chapel contains the following altarpieces:

The Santa Ana altarpieces, signed by Juan Correa
Juan Correa

Juan Correa was a Mexico painter. His years of greatest activity were from 1671 to 1716. He painted many religious-themed, Baroque paintings for cathedrals in Mexico....
(17th century)
The San Jose altarpiece.
The Virgin of Guadalupe altarpiece, and
The central altarpiece dedicated to the Virgen del Rosario.

The chapel of the Virgin of Rosario often is compared to the chapels of Puebla and Oaxaca as the best examples of Spanish colonial church architecture and decoration.

The Porfirian era

Between 1881-1882, president Manuel Gonzalez

Manuel González

For the Peruvian political figure, see Manuel Gonz?lez Prada.'For the Costa Rican writer "Mag?n", see Manuel Gonz?lez Zeled?n.Manuel del Refugio Gonz?lez Flores was a Mexico military officer, politician, and, from 1880 to 1884, president of Mexico....
intensified a colonization project all over the country. He brought thousands of Italians to the country and in the Colonia Aldana he colonized it with northern Italians, mainly from Lombardy

Lombardy

Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region....
, Tirol

Tirol, Italy

Tirol is a comune in the province of Province of Bolzano-Bozen in the Italy region Trentino-Alto Adige/S?dtirol, located about 70 km north of the city of Trento and about 25 km northwest of the city of Bolzano....
, and Piedmont

Piedmont

Piedmont is one of the 20 Regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,399 km? and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital is Turin. The main local dialect is Piedmontese....
. It was one of the most prosperous colonies in the country, but in the early 1900s the urbananization growth of Mexico City reached the colony and absorbed it. Today some families still retain their Italian identity with restaurants and bakeries. This could be considered Mexico City's Little Italy

Little Italy

Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italian people or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an Urban area neighborhood....
. The Italian district in Mexico City. Between 1910 and 1920, Mexico City's character was largely influenced by President Porfirio Díaz

Porfirio Díaz

Jos? de la Cruz Porfirio D?az Mori was a Mexico politician who would later become the President of Mexico from 1876 to 1880 and from 1884 to 1911, and one of the most controversial figures of the country....
. During this period, several of the city's suburbs were known by different names, for example: The American Suburb (now Zona Rosa

Zona Rosa

The Zona Rosa is the name used to refer to a part of Colonia Juarez in Mexico City, just south of Paseo de la Reforma. this is called the pink zone because of the pink tiles on the street today....
), Centro Suburb (now Historic Centre), Roma Suburb (Colonia Roma

Colonia Roma

Colonia Roma is a neighborhood in the central borough of Cuauht?moc, D.F. in Mexico City. Officially what locals call Colonia Roma are actually two neighborhoods: Colonia Roma Sur and Colonia Roma Norte....
), Chapultepec Forest Area (now Bosque de Chapultepec

Chapultepec

Chapultepec is a large hill on the outskirts of central Mexico City. It has been a special place for Mexicans throughout History of Mexico, and it was on this hill that the Aztecs made a temporary home after arriving from northern Mexico in the 1200s....
and Lomas de Chapultepec

Las Lomas

Las Lomas is the common name of a residential district in Mexico City located in the delegaci?n of Miguel Hidalgo, D.F.. Its real name is Lomas de Chapultepec and dates back from around 1930, when it was founded with the name Chapultepec Heights....
), San Ángel

San Ángel

San ?ngel is a colonias of Mexico City in the Boroughs of the Mexican Federal District of ?lvaro Obreg?n, D.F. in the Mexican Federal District....
(now San Angel Inn), Hacienda de los Morales (now Polanco (Mexico)

Polanco (Mexico)

Polanco is the name that usually refers to a group of seven official neighborhoods in Mexico City, located north of Chapultepec Park. The official names of the neighborhoods are: Los Morales , Del Bosque, Polanco Reforma, Polanco Chapultepec, Chapultepec Morales, Bosque de Chapultepec and Residencial del Bosque....
) and Azcapotzalco (now Azcapotzalco) were considered glamorous and luxurious areas.

On Azcapotzalco Avenue, elegant Beaux-Arts architecture

Beaux-Arts architecture

Beaux-Arts architecture denotes the academic Neoclassical architecture architectural style that was taught at the ?cole des Beaux-Arts in Paris....
houses were built, and a very European atmosphere existed (still present to some extent today). President Díaz enjoyed visiting the suburb because, as he would say, "Azcapotzalco is the place where I have a still day". During this period, Azcapotzalco was known as Porfirio Díaz's Azcapotzalco.

Modern day

Azcapotzalco changed dramatically in the 20th century; urban sprawl led many of Mexico City's suburbs to become absorbed into the city.

External links

official site