La Mulatta
 
Mulatto Creole Mixed-Race
 

 

 

Mestizo...Indian / Spanish Mix

 

The First Mestizo
 

 

One of Columbus’ principal officers on his second voyage to the New World was Miguel Diaz.

During the troubled crossing, many officers and men became embroiled in quarrels and controversy, and the voyage ended badly. While Columbus was away from La Ismirabela, Diaz, who was out ot favor with the Admiral. left with some compatriots for the south of Hispaniola, where a Taino tribe received them cordially.

A women chief named Zacatecas fell in love with Diaz, who was as much interested in gold as anything else. In order to avoid losing her handsome officer, Zacatecas showed Diaz some gold deposits near the Haina River, which Diaz reported to Columbus in order to regain his favor.

The queen Zacatecas became Christian and took the name Catalina. Diaz and Catalina had two children together-the first officially recorded offspring of a European-Indian marriage. In the Caribbean and Central America, this combination of people became known as mestizo.

After Spain conquered Mexico under Hernando Cortes, the Spanish ruled for three centuries before a revolution succeeded in 1821.

During the long period of conquest and colonization, there was massive miscegenation between the Spanish and the Indian populations, and some that involved African blacks. At first the term "Mestizo" meant half-Spanish and half-Indian, and it was often used to mean "illegitimate" of "bastard."

Eventually it came to refer to the entire mixed population regardless of the degree of mixture. The terms of reference listed in Table 1 show how finely tuned the Spanish concern for racial ancestry became during the eighteenth century in Mexico and in all the Spanish possessions in the Western Hemisphere.

The term lobo, for example, means half-Indian, one thirty-second African black, and rest (30 sixty-fourths) white ancestry. The largest genetic contribution to the Mestizo population today came from the Indian peoples, then the Spanish and other Europeans, with small infusions from blacks and East Asian and South Asians groups.

During the long Spanish rle, the Mestizos occupied a middle status position while the Indians were on the bottom of the ethnic status ladder.

The Spanish colonial policy was strongly assimilationist, requiring Indians to learn the Spanish language and culture and give up their own tongues and customs. Indian groups that would not comply could barely survive, much less prosper.

The lighter Mestizos were given preference by the Spanish, and there developed a structure of status levels that was based on skin color and the degree of Spanish ancestry.

The belief that Europeans were biologically and culturally superior to Indians became widespread, and Mestizos took pride in Hispanic ancestry and tried to deny their Indian backgrounds.


Cuba a Mixed Race Nation .Click here
 

 

 

Mixed Race combinations Mestizo,Mulatto,Black, White and Indian

Click Photo to enlarge...Courtesy New Yourk Public Library

 

 

1.
Spaniard
Indian
Mestizo
2.
Mestizo
Spanish
Castizo
3.
Spaniard
Castizo
Spaniard
4.
Negro
Spanish
Mulatto
5.
Spaniard
Mulatto
Morisco
6.
Spaniard
Morisco
Albino
7.
Spaniard
Albino
Torna atras
8.
Indian
Torna atras
Lobo
9.
Lobo
Indian
Zambaigo
10.
Zambaigo
Indian
Cambujo
11.
Cambujo
Mulatto
Albarazado
12.
Albarazado
Mulatto
Barcino
13.
Barcino
Mulatto
Coyote
14.
Indian
Coyote
Chamiso
15.
Mestizo
Chamiso
Coyote Mestizo
16.
Coyote Mestizo
Mulatto
Ahi te estas

 

Creole.... White Black Native American

Mestizo.... White Amerindian

 

 

Mixed Race combinations Mestizo,Mulatto,Black, White and Indian ..........

Click Photo to enlarge...Courtesy New Yourk Public Library

 

 

 


The Mestizos became the rulers when Spanish control was overthrown, and except for the years 1864-67, when an Austrian archduke reigned as Maximilian I with the backing of French troops, they have continued to govern Mexico ever since.

Some Spanish and other whites in Mexico have retained considerable wealth and influence, but political power remains chiefly in Mestizo hands. The Indian peoples have remained on the bottom of the ladder.

Early in the twentieth century the old racial beliefs and customs were still strong. Not until the 1930's did the Mexican government abandon the policy of forced assimilationism and begin to support the preservation of Indian languages and culture.

The Mestizos are by far the largest group in Mexico today. Within this group the mingling of genes from the parent populations continues, and new unions with other population groups occur.

Next in size come the unmixed Indians, and then the much smaller category of unmixed white Gringos (foreigners), composed of Spanish, Italians, other Europeans, and Americans. The numbers of unmixed blacks, darker mulattoes, East Asians, and South Asians are small, and prejudice against very dark skin is strong.

The overwhelming size of the Mestizo group would appear to be a major factor in its dominance, yet in Haiti the mulattoe elites managed to maintain control for a long time with relatively small numbers.


WHO IS BLACK?

One Nations Definition
by F. James Davis

   
The Mestizo
Spanish-Filipino mestizo
The Mulatto
The Louisiana Creoles
The Zambos
The Black Indians
 
The Mexican Mulattos
   
 
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