The Pull of the Marketplace: Colonia Growth and Regional Migration in Guerrero, Mexico

Analysis of a survey administered in 2006 reveals that colonia residents in Chilapa, Guerrero, Mexico, are more likely to have migrated from rural areas within the city’s traditional marketing hinterland than from equally nearby villages that orient their trade to other regional marketplaces. The study suggests that the regional marketing systems, rather than municipal jurisdictions, are the major institutions channeling rural to urban migration in the fieldsite. The article also explores the occupational shifts associated with the transition to life in the urban colonias.