Mestizos

Notable mestizos: Inca Garcilaso de la Vega · Porfirio Díaz
Regions with significant populations
The Caribbean, Latin America, and the United States
Languages
Predominantly Spanish, (with a minority of other languages), while Caboclo speaks Portuguese, and Métis speak French; English in the United States, Kriol, Spanish, and English in Belize.
Religion
Christianity (predominantly Roman Catholic, with a minority of Protestant); and other religions.
Related ethnic groups
European, Amerindian people

Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America and Spain for people of mixed heritage or descent. In some countries it has come to mean a mixture of European and Amerindian, while in others, like Venezuela, mestizo means being mixed without specifying which admixture.^[1] The term was used as a racial category in the Casta system that was in use during the Spanish empire's control of their American colonies; it was used to describe those who had one European-born parent and one who was a member of an indigenous American population, in some countries, while it was used to refer to people of European, African and Indigenous admixture in others like Venezuela.^[2] In the Casta system mestizos had fewer rights than European born persons called "Peninsulares", and "Creoles" who were persons born in the New World of two European-born parents, but more rights than "Indios" and Negros.

During the colonial period, mestizos quickly became the majority group in much of what is today Latin America, and when the colonies started achieving independence from Spain, the mestizo group often became dominant. In some Latin American countries, such as Mexico, the concept of the "mestizo" became central to the formation of a new independent identity that was neither wholly Spanish nor wholly indigenous and the word mestizo acquired its current double meaning of mixed cultural heritage and actual racial descent.

Etymology[link]

The Spanish word Mestizo is from the Romance / Latin word mixticius, meaning mixed.^[3][4] Its usage has been documented as early as 1275, to refer to the offspring of an Egyptian and a Jew.^[5] This term was first documented in English in 1582.^[6]

Cognates[link]

Mestizo (Spanish: [mesˈtiθo] or [mesˈtiso]), Mestiço (Portuguese: [mɨʃˈtisu], [mesˈtisu] or [mesˈtʃisu]), Métis (French: [meˈtis]), Mestís (Catalan: [məsˈtis]), Meticcio (Italian: [meˈtittʃo]), Mestiezen (Dutch: [mesˈtizən]), Mestee (Middle English: [məsˈtiː]), and Mix (English) are all cognates of the Latin word mixticius.

History[link]

Mestizo man and his Indian wife, 1763, by Miguel Cabrera

During the Spanish colonial period, the Spanish developed a complex caste system based on race, which was used for social control and which also determined a person's importance in society.^[7] There were four main categories of race: (1) Peninsular — a person of Spanish descent born in Spain, (2) Criollo (fem. criolla) — a person of Spanish descent born in the Americas, (3) Indio (fem. India) — a person who is a native of, or indigenous to the Americas, and (4) Negro (fem. Negra) — a person of African slave descent.^[7] Persons of mixed race were collectively referred to as castas.^[8][9] During this era, myriad other terms (such as mulatto and zambo) were used to differentiate racial mixtures.^[9] By the end of the colonial period in 1821, over one hundred categories of possible variations of mixture existed.

In theory, Criollo status could also be attained by people of mixed origin who had the equivalent of a great grandparent with Amerindian ancestry. Such cases might include the offspring of a Castizo (3/4 Spanish, 1/4 Indian) parent and one Peninsular or Criollo parent.^[10] This one-eighth rule, also in theory, did not apply to African admixture.^[10]

A person's legal racial classification in colonial Spanish America was closely tied to social status, wealth, culture and language use. Wealthy people paid to change or obscure their actual ancestry. Many indigenous people left their traditional villages and sought to be counted as mestizos to avoid tribute payments to the Spanish.^[11] Many indigenous people, and sometimes those with partial African descent, were classified as mestizo if they spoke Spanish and lived as mestizos.

Often, but only early on, the term mestizo was associated with illegitimacy; The term also has a pejorative use about something that is not "pure". However, it evolved in the ensuing centuries.^{[citation needed]} According to historians Michael C. Meyer and William L. Sherman, early in the 16th century Spanish colonial usage of the term, mestizo "was almost synonymous with bastard" (illegitimate child).^[12]

Because the term had taken on a myriad of meanings, the designation "Mestizo" was removed from census counts in Mexico and is no longer in use.^[6]

A representation of a Mestizo, in a Pintura de Castas from Mexico during the Spanish colonial period. The painting's caption states "Spanish and Indian produce Mestizo".

Spanish-speaking Latin America[link]

Mexico[link]

The large majority of Mexicans can be classified as "Mestizos", meaning in modern Mexican usage that they identify fully neither with any indigenous culture nor with a particular non-Mexican heritage, but rather identify as having cultural traits and heritage incorporating elements from indigenous and European traditions. By the deliberate efforts of post-revolutionary governments the "Mestizo identity" was constructed as the base of the modern Mexican national identity, through a process of cultural synthesis referred to as mestizaje. Mexican politicians and reformers such as José Vasconcelos and Manuel Gamio were instrumental in building a Mexican national identity on the concept of mestizaje.^[13][14] Cultural policies in early post-revolutionary Mexico were paternalistic towards the indigenous people, with efforts designed to "help" indigenous peoples achieve the same level of progress as the rest of society, eventually assimilating indigenous peoples completely to Mestizo Mexican culture, working toward the goal of eventually solving the "Indian problem" by transforming indigenous communities into mestizo communities.^[15]

The term "Mestizo" is not in wide use in Mexican society today and has been dropped as a category in population censuses; it is, however, still used in social and cultural studies when referring to the non-indigenous part of the Mexican population. The word has somewhat pejorative connotations and most of the Mexican citizens who would be defined as mestizos in the sociological literature would probably self-identify primarily as Mexicans. In the Yucatán peninsula the word Mestizo is even used about Maya-speaking populations living in traditional communities, because during the caste war of the late 19th century those Maya who did not join the rebellion were classified as mestizos.^[16] In Chiapas the word "Ladino" is used instead of mestizo.^[17]

Countries with dominant Mestizo population. Based on: Population Estimates from the CIA World Factbook

Sometimes, particularly outside of Mexico, the word "mestizo" is used with the meaning of Mexican persons with mixed Indigenous and European blood. This usage does not conform to the Mexican social reality where a person of pure indigenous genetic heritage would be considered Mestizo either by rejecting his indigenous culture or by not speaking an indigenous language,^[16] and a person with a very low percentage of indigenous genetic heritage would be considered fully indigenous either by speaking an indigenous language or by identifying with a particular indigenous cultural heritage.^[18]

In May 2009, Mexico's National Institute of Genomic Medicine issued a report on a genomic study that involved 300 Mestizos from the states of Guerrero, Sonora, Veracruz, Yucatán, Zacatecas, and Guanajuato. The study found that the Mestizo population of these Mexican states were on average 55% of indigenous ancestry followed by 41.8 % European, 1.8% African, and 1.2% East Asian ancestry. The study also noted that whereas Mestizo individuals from the southern state of Guerrero were on average 66% of indigenous ancestry, those from the northern state of Sonora were about 61.6% of European ancestry. The study found that there was an increase in indigenous ancestry as one traveled towards the Central and the more Southerly states of the country, while the indigenous ancestry declined as one traveled to the Northern states in the country, such as Sonora.^[19]

El Salvador[link]

In Central America intermixing and intermarriages between European men and the indigenous women in Cuzcatlán or what is now El Salvador happened almost immediately after the arrival of the European Spanish led by Pedro de Alvarado. The majority of Salvadorans in El Salvador identify themselves as 90% Mestizo with heavy Meso-American indigenous and European-Spanish traditions, leaving the 9% White and 1% indigenous Salvadoran population as a minority. The mixing between the Europeans and the Native American indigenous people in El Salvador was so extensive that it is the only country in Latin America to be composed almost entirely of the Mestizo population which completely dominates other racial populations in the small nation. Salvadorans who are racially European, especially Mediterranean, and indigenous people in El Salvador who do not speak indigenous languages nor have an indigenous culture, also identify themselves as Mestizo culturally.

El Salvador is the only country in Central America that does not have a significant African population due to many factors including El Salvador not having a Caribbean coast, and because of president Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, who passed racial laws to keep blacks out of El Salvador, but Salvadorans with African ancestry Afro-Salvadoran are present in El Salvador. The African slaves that were brought to El Salvador during the colonial times, eventually came to mix and merged in to the much larger and vaster Mestizo mixed European Spanish/Native Indigenous population creating Afromestizos. At the end of the colonial era the mixing of the various races in the country was well on its way in creating a population that no longer had strong ethnic identities as Native American, European, or African, but that of tri or Multiracial, perhaps one of the only places in the Americas were these three racial groups entirely mixed together, thus there remains no significant extremes of African physiognomy among Salvadorans like there is in the other countries of Central America. Maximiliano was also responsible for La Matanza ("The Slaughter"), in which indigenous people were murdered in an effort to wipe out the indigenous people in El Salvador during the 1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising. Indigenous peoples, mostly of Pipil, Lenca, Kakawira (Cacaopera) and Mayan descent are still present in El Salvador in small communities, conserving their languages, customs, and traditions.

Paraguay[link]

During the reign of José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, the first consul of Paraguay from 1811 to 1840, he imposed a law that no Spaniard may intermarry, and that they may only wed blacks, mulattoes or Indians. This was introduced to eliminate any sense of racial superiority, and also to end the predominantly Spanish influence in Paraguay. De Francia himself was not a mestizo (although his grandfather on his father's side was Afro-Brazilian), but feared that racial superiority would create class division which would threaten his absolute rule. As a result of this, today 90% of Paraguay's population are mestizo, and the main language is the native Guaraní, spoken by 90% of the population as a first language, with Spanish spoken as a first language by 10% of the population, and fluently spoken by a further 75%, making Paraguay one of the most bilingual countries in the world.

Peru[link]

According to Alberto Flores Galindo, "By the 1940 census, the last that utilized racial categories, mestizos were grouped with whites, and the two constituted more than 53 percent of the population. Mestizos likely outnumbered Indians and were the largest population group."^[20]

Noted mestizos migrating to Europe[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2010)

Martín Cortés, son of the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and of the Nahuatl–Maya indigenous Mexican interpreter Malinche, was one of the first documented mestizos to arrive in Spain. His first trip occurred in 1528, when he accompanied his father, Hernán Cortés, who sought to have him legitimized by the Pope.

There is also verified evidence of the grandchildren of Moctezuma II, Aztec emperor, whose royal descent the Spanish crown acknowledged, willingly having set foot on European soil. Among these descendants are the Counts of Miravalle, and the Dukes of Moctezuma de Tultengo, who became part of the Spanish peerage and left many descendants in Europe.^[21] The Counts of Miravalle, residing in Andalucía, Spain, demanded in 2003 that the government of Mexico recommence payment of the so called 'Moctezuma pensions' it had cancelled in 1934.

The mestizo historian Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, son of Spanish conquistador Sebastián Garcilaso de la Vega and of the Inca princess Isabel Chimpo Oclloun arrived in Spain from Peru. He lived in the town of Montilla, Andalucía, where he died in 1616. The mestizo children of Francisco Pizarro were also military leaders because of their famous father.

Starting in the early 1970s and throughout the 1980s, Europe saw the arrival of thousands of Chileans, many of whom were mestizos, seeking political refuge during the dictatorial government of Augusto Pinochet. Today, there is a growing number of mestizo immigrants in Western Europe, primarily from Ecuador, Peru and Colombia.

Former Spanish East Indies[link]

Philippines[link]

Filipinas mestizas, early 1800s

In the Philippines, the word "mestizo" is a term used to denote Filipinos of mixed native (Austronesian) and any non-native ethnicity.^[4]

Guam and Northern Mariana Islands[link]

In Guam and Northern Mariana Islands, the term "Mestizo" was borrowed from the American colonies and was formerly used to identify people of mixed Pacific Islander and Spanish ancestry; however, as the United States gained control of these islands after the Spanish-American War in 1898, the term "Multiracial" replaced "Mestizo".^{[citation needed]} Mestizos/Multiracials currently form a small minority of the population. Because most Guamanians and Northern Mariana Islanders were also given Spanish surnames during Spanish colonial times, persons of white American and other non-Spanish European descent with Spanish surnames may be mistaken as having such descent.^{[citation needed][clarification needed]}

Portuguese-speaking Africa[link]

Mestiço – Angola[link]

The Mestiço are primarily of mixed European, native born indigenous Angolan and/or other indigenous African lineages. They tend to be Portuguese culturally and to have full Portuguese names.

Although they make up about 2% of the population, they are the socially elite, and racially privileged, group in the country. Historically, Mestiços formed social and cultural allegiances with Portuguese colonists, subsequently identifying with the Portuguese over and above their indigenous identities. Despite their loyalty, the ethnic group faced economic and political adversity at hands of the white population during times of economic hardship for whites. These actions lead to ostracizing Mestiços from their inherited economic benefits which sparked the group to take a new sociopolitical direction. However, since the over 500 year Portuguese presence in the country, the ethnic group has retained their position of entitlement which is highly evident in the political, economic and cultural hierarchy in present day Angola. Their phenotype range is broad with a number of members possessing physical characteristics that are close to others within the indigenous black non-mixed population. Since the Mestiços are generally better educated than the rest of the indigenous black population, they exercise influence in government disproportionate to their numbers.

Mestiço – Guinea-Bissau[link]

1% of the population is of mixed African Native and Portuguese descent.

Mestiço – Mozambique[link]

A minority population of Mozambicans of mixed Bantu and Portuguese heritage.

Mestiço – São Tomé and Príncipe[link]

Mestiços of São Tomé and Príncipe are descendants of Portuguese colonists and African slaves brought to the islands during the early years of settlement from Benin, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Angola (these people also are known as filhos da terra or "children of the land").

Portuguese-speaking Latin American[link]

Mestiço – Brazil[link]

This section may stray from the topic of the article. Please help improve this section or discuss this issue on the talk page. (August 2010)

In Brazil, the word mestiço is used to describe individuals born from any mixture of different ethnicities. Individuals that fit the specific case of having Portuguese and Native American parents are commonly known as caboclo or, more commonly in the past, mameluco. Individuals of European and African ancestry are described as mulato. Cafuzos (known as zambo in the English language) are the production of Native American and African ancestors. The Mixed Race Day (June 27) is a official date in States of Amazonas, Paraíba and Roraima.^{[citation needed]}

Related concepts[link]

Métis – Canada[link]

This section may stray from the topic of the article into the topic of another article, Métis people (Canada). Please help improve this section or discuss this issue on the talk page. (August 2010)

This section may stray from the topic of the article into the topic of another article, Indian Act. Please help improve this section or discuss this issue on the talk page. (August 2010)

Louis Riel, Canadian Métis.

French Colonial empire in Canada, the Métis are regarded as an independent ethnic group.^{[citation needed]} This community of descent consists of individuals descended from marriages of First Nation women, specifically Cree, Ojibway, and Saulteaux with Europeans, usually French, English, and Scottish laborers or merchants employed in the North American Fur Trade.^{[citation needed]} Their history dates to the mid 17th century, and they have been recognized as a distinct people since the early 18th century.^{[citation needed]}

Traditionally, the Métis spoke a mixed language called Michif (with various regional dialects). Michif (a phonetic spelling of the Métis pronunciation of "Métif", a variant of Métis) is also used as the name of the Métis people. The name is most commonly applied to descendants of communities in what is now southern Manitoba.^{[citation needed]} The name is also applied to the descendants of similar communities in what are now Ontario, Quebec, Labrador, and the Northwest Territories, although these groups' histories are different from that of the western Métis.^{[citation needed]} In Northern Manitoba some communities spoke Bungee, a combination of Gaelic, Orcadian, Cree, and Ojibwe. Bungee is now extinct.^{[citation needed]}

Estimates of the number of Métis vary from 300,000 to 700,000 or more.^{[citation needed]} In September 2002, the Métis people adopted a national definition of Métis for citizenship within the "Métis Nation." Based on this definition, it is estimated that there are 350,000 to 400,000^{[citation needed]} Métis Nation citizens in Canada, although many Métis classify anyone as Métis who can prove that an ancestor applied for money scrip or land scrip as part of nineteenth-century treaties with the Canadian government.^{[citation needed]} However, Labrador, Quebec, and even some Acadian Métis communities are not accepted by the Métis National Council and are represented nationally by the "Congress of Aboriginal Peoples."^{[citation needed]}

The Métis are not recognized as a First Nation by the Canadian government and do not receive the benefits granted to First Nation peoples.^{[citation needed]} However, the 1982 amendments to the Canadian constitution recognize the Métis as an aboriginal people, and have enabled individual Métis to sue successfully for recognition of their traditional rights such as rights to hunt and trap.^{[citation needed]} In 2003, a court ruling in Ontario found that the Métis deserve the same rights as other aboriginal communities in Canada.^{[citation needed]}

Mestiços - Sri Lanka[link]

In Sri Lanka, the names Mestiços (Portuguese for "Mixed People") or Casados ("Married") were applied to people of mixed Portuguese and Sri Lankan (Sinhalese and Tamil) descent, starting in the 16th century.

See also[link]

• Casta
• European colonization of the Americas
• Spanish colonization of the Americas
• Indigenous peoples of the Americas
• Viceroyalty of New Spain

Publication[link]

• Batalla, Guillermo, and Philip Dennis. Mexico Profundo: Reclaiming A Civilization. Univ of Texas Pr, 1996. ISBN 978-0-292-70843-3
• Wang S, Ray N, Rojas W, Parra MV, Bedoya G, et al. (2008) Geographic Patterns of Genome Admixture in Latin American Mestizos. PLoS Genet 4(3): e1000037. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1000037
• "Genetic Study Of Latin Americans Sheds Light On A Troubled History" — Science Daily
• Duno Gottberg, Luis, Solventando las diferencias: la ideología del mestizaje en Cuba. Madrid, Iberoamericana — Frankfurt am Main, Vervuert, 2003

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mestizo

• The 1921 Mexican Census
• The Construction and Function of Race: Creating The Mestizo

Mexicans of European descent
Notable European Mexicans: Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla[1], Sasha Rionda[2] Ilan Stavans[3], Juana Inés de la Cruz [4], José Yves Limantour[5], Agustin de Iturbide[6]

Mexicans of European descent are generally those of light skin and predominantly European features which are most often associated with Mexico's upper and middle socioeconomic classes, though the larger overall percentage is hidden among the lower-class by the millions. The concept of "white" and race, in general, is defined in Mexico by ancestry and social class as much as it is by biological features. Another group in Mexico, "mestizos" also include people with varying amounts of European ancestry, and there is no clearly defined line between the racial groups of mestizos and güeros.

Europeans began arriving to Mexico with the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, with the descendents of the conquistadors, along with new arrivals from Spain formed an elite. Intermixing would produce a mestizo group which would become the majority by the time of Independence, but power remained firmly in the hands of the elite, called "criollo". While almost all European or Caucasian migration into Mexico during the colonial period was from Iberia, in the 19th and 20th century European and European derived populations from North and South America did immigrate to the country. However, at its height, the total immigrant population in Mexico never exceeded fifty percent of the total. Many of these immigrants came with money to invest and/or ties to allow them to become prominent in business and other aspects of Mexican society, but most either did not stay permanently or mix with Mexican society in general, except for some with the native criollo elite.

Although some would not be considered "white" by U.S. or European standards, there are various features differentiating the facial makeup of individuals. While the concept of race is relatively fluid, with large variation in skin color among mestizos, "white" or "European" looks are still strongly preferred in Mexican society, with lighter skin receiving more positive attention and foreign cultures considered to be "white", such as the United States, receiving deference. Most light-skinned Mexicans aren't from uniform families, as the tones of skin, hair, eyes, and skull vary even within their own immediate families (for example, among the father & mother, brother, sister)

Establishment of a European elite[link]

The main reason for the presence of European-descended people in Mexico is the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in the early 16th century.^[7][8] Hernán Cortés and the conquistadors, with their light skin, brown or blonde hair and light-colored eyes, had never been seen before by the people of Mesoamerica. There are stories that Moctezuma took Cortés to be the return of the God Quetzalcoatl, but this has been disputed. Cortés managed to conquer the Aztecs through a series of alliances with enemy peoples which in the end made the Spanish dominant politically, although a very small minority numerically.^[7][9] Further migration into Mexico from Spain supplemented the numbers of ethnic Europeans during the colonial period.^[9] The conquest and subsequent domination by Europeans was justified by the Spanish as the indigenous were uncivilized and needed to be converted to Christianity. Spanish language and culture was imposed with indigenous ones suppressed.^[7][10]

The Mexican experience mirrors much of that of the rest of Latin America, as attitudes towards race, including identification, were set by the conquistadors and Spanish who came soon after.^[9] Through the colonial period, the Spanish and their descendents, called "criollos", remained vastly outnumbered by the indigenous and "mestizos", or those of mixed Spanish and indigenous parents.^[7][10] To keep power, the Spanish and criollo elite perpetuated the idea of "Spanish" being equivalent to "civilized". The population of Mexico (or New Spain) was organized into a hierarchical class system with those from Spain being the most privileged, followed by criollos, then mestizos than the indigenous. Classification of this system was mostly by race, which was determined mostly by whom one descended from. The system was not completely rigid and elements such as social class and social relations did figure into it. However, the notion of "Spanishness" would remain at the top and "Indianness" would be at the bottom, with those mixed being somewhere in the middle. This idea remained officially in force through the rest of the colonial period.^[7]

Criollo resentment to the privileges afforded the Spain-born or peninsulares was part of the reason behind the Mexican War of Independence. When the war ended in 1821, the new Mexican government expelled the peninsulares in the 1820s and 1830s. However, Independence did not do away with economic and social privilege based on race as the Criollos took over those of the Spain born. A division between "Spanish" and "indigenous" remained despite a majority mestizo or mixed race population. However, biological features were often not enough to distinguish between the two in many cases and some mixing occurred even in the upper classes. The main distinction between criollos and mestizos became money and social class and less about biological differences. The Criollos distinguished themselves from the rest of society as the guardians of Spanish culture as well as the Catholic religion.^[11]

Those considered to be white/criollo/European were never the majority of the country's population, reaching a peak at around 47% during the early 19th century, according to census records. By 1921, the last time the official census took race into account, about ten percent were considered to be "white".^[12] This is one reason why many of the political struggles of the latter 19th and early 20th centuries would be between these elite and the majority mestizos.^[10]

White/European/Criollo vs Mestizo today[link]

The concept of race in Mexico is subtle and the result of multiple cultural concepts which are not given attention by most of the population. They not only include physical clues such as skin color but also cultural dispositions, morality and intellectual status. It is not static or well defined but rather is defined and redefined by situation. Descent is still one primary determiner of social status which is only loosely associated with biological traits. This makes racial distinctions different than those in other countries such as the United States.^[8]

However, the concept of Caucasian , called güero in Mexican Spanish, still exists,^[13] with it basically referring to those of predominantly European heritage.^[14] Many of these would not be considered such by American, Canadian or European standards.^[8] The reason for this is that those of European heritage with absolutely no indigenous or other features are rare in Mexico (though extremely common in Northern Mexico, even if they are less populated)^[9] However, those with the lightest skin in Mexico are generally associated with the well-educated and upper income social classes.^[8] Racial and social distinctions are strongest in Mexico City, where the most powerful of the country's elite are located.^[8]

One very distinctive element about the generally lighter skinned Mexican elite is their separateness from the rest of Mexican society (READ EXCEPTION FOR NORTHERN MEXICO, on next paragraph). These upper classes fear the "common masses" even though they are supposed to be emblematic of the country.^[8] There has been a long standing anxiety among the elite of Mexico that it never truly becomes modern because of something intrinsically wrong with Mexico. This usually focuses as the inability for the masses to change.^[8] The concept of civilization and modernity is strongly tied to assimilating as close as possible to the culture and economy of the United States and Europe.

Northern Mexico: Among the least populated states of the nation, northern Mexican states have long been the home base of tall, light eyed, and fair skinned citizens of the country. Because of this, most families have very different variation of children when pertaining to their skin colours. The genealogy has made the continuing existence of a nicknaming culture: if there is a dark one in the family, he (mostly males)/ she is called what in English would be the equivalent of "the black sheep" of the family. If the next sibling is light skinned, most are called güera/güero like in the rest of the country- but a common term used is the word "pocho" which can be translated to mean bleached or cleared in English.

Complicating the situation is the relationship between whites and Europeans, and the mestizo population, as racial and ethnic identification is strongly associated with Mexico's history, with descent more of a determining factor than biological traits.^[8][12] Since Independence, the official identity promoted has been "mestizo" or a mix of Spanish and indigenous, which has affected social and political policy in the country. However, these policies contradict internally and between theory and reality, with European characteristics remaining in favor to this day.^[12] Since 1930, the Mexican government has not included race as part of its census due to an ideology designed to stop making designations among "Mexicans".^[12] Today well processed estimates put the "white" population at about ten or eleven percent.^[12][15] In one survey based on self-identification, percentages of "whites" varied from ten to twenty percent depending on when one considered biology, customs and/or origins.^[16] In theory, emphasis on mestizo identity was supposed to eliminate divisions and create a unified identity that would allow Mexico to modernize and integrate into the international community.^[8]

The lack of a clear defining line between "white" and "mixed race" is further blurred by the fact that there is little homogeneity among mestizos, with the lighter skinned being favored, as associated with higher social class, power, money and modernity.^[8][9] Being "dark" ("moreno" in Mexican Spanish) is associated with Indian origin with its inferior social class and implying submission.^[7][12] There is some correlation between skin color, ethnicity and wealth, with those who mostly identified as "white" having higher socioeconomic indices such as ownership of durable goods and education levels.^[16] Although on the surface, most Mexicans identify as a "mixed-race", the European side is still considered to be superior, with efforts to promote European culture and values over indigenous ones.^[12]

Newspaper advertisements for employment ask for "Buena presentación", literally "good presentation", but it is interpreted as lighter skin along with class attributes such as certain types of dress. The same qualities distinguish "beauty" and "ugly" with expressions such as "he is very handsome, blond and with blue eyes" or "she's dark, but pretty."^[8] Despite the fact that the 55% of Mexicans have copper skin and dark hair, most advertising shows those with blond hair and white skin, including store mannequins, posters on subway trains and the television screen. Social critics blame television and other media for perpetuating the preference for light skin, but attempts to use darker skinned models and spokespeople have failed to sell products.^[17] However, aside from these critics, there is little to no push to have television shows, music, news and other media have a more diversified presence.^[18] This preference for lighter skin even extends into families with lighter skinned children favored over darker siblings.^[7]

A more recent variation on this cultural and biological preference is "malinchismo" which means to identify or favor a North American or European culture over the native one. It derives from La Malinche, the native interpreter who allied with Cortés during the Conquest. The story has strong domination and servitude elements and is still an important social imagery for Mexicans (of which only 3% believe in race, and 0.7% know and can identify it), with a strong preference to those with power. Today, it has morphed into a preference for English given names due to the influence of the United States.^[7]

Idioms of race serve a mediating terms between social groups. "Güero" or "güerito" is used by street vendors to call out to potential customers, sometimes even when the person is not light-skinned. It is used in this instance to initiate a kind of familiarity, but in cases where social/racial tensions are relatively high(which are almost unheard of throughout the country), it can have the opposite effect.^[8]

European immigration to Mexico[link]

A photo of Italian immigrants in Monterrey in 1905

Mexicans of European descent are strongly associated with the history of the Spanish in the country as Mexico has not had the history of mass immigration that other New World countries such as the United States and Argentina have had.^[8] The criollos began as the descendents of the conquistadors, which was the supplemented by further immigration from Spain in the colonial era and then from various parts of Europe and European descended peoples from other places in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries—The term "criollo", to refer to very light skinned people, remained until the 20th century.^[9] After Independence, the Criollos took over politics and economic areas formerly banned to them such as mining. They have remained dominant since, especially in Mexico City.^[8][10] The expulsion of the Spanish between 1826 and 1833 kept the European ethnicity from growing as a percentage;^[10] however, this expulsion did not lead to any permanent ban on European immigrants, even from Spain.^[8]

Immigration to Mexico in the 19th and 20th century mostly came from Europe and other countries with European descended populations such as Argentina and the United States. However, at its height, the total immigrant population in Mexico never exceeded one percent.^[8][10][11] One reason for this was that the country lacked large expanses of cultivatable land on its mountainous terrain, and what existed was firmly in the hands of the criollo elite. Another was that European immigration after the Mexican War of Independence was both welcomed and feared, a combination of xenophilia and xenophobia, especially to Europeans and other "whites" existing to this day.^[10][11]

The xenophilia toward European and European derived immigrants comes from the country's association of civilization with European characteristics. After Independence, Liberals among Mexico's elite blamed the country's indigenous heritage for its inability to keep up with the economic development of the rest of the world. However, embracing only Mexico's European heritage was not possible. This led to an effort to encourage European immigrants.^[8] One of these efforts was the dispossession of large tracts of land from the Catholic Church with the aim of selling them to immigrants and others who would develop them. However, this did not have the desired effect mostly because of political instability. The Porfirio Díaz regime of the decades before the Mexican Revolution tried again, and expressly desired European immigration to promote modernization, instill Protestant work ethics and buttress what remained of Mexico's North from further U.S. expansionism. Díaz also expressed a desire to "whiten" Mexico's heavily racially mixed population, although this had more to do with culture than with biological traits. However, the Díaz regime had more success luring investors when permanent residents, even in rural areas despite government programs. No more than forty foreign farming colonies were ever formed during this time and of these only a few Italian and German ones survived.^[11]

From the 19th to the early 20th century, most European foreigners in Mexico were in urban areas, especially the country's capital, living in enclaves and involved in business. These European immigrants would quickly adapt to the Mexican attitude that "whiter was better", and keep themselves separate from the host country. This and their status as foreigners offered them considerable social and economic advantages, blunting any inclination to assimilate. There was little incentive to integrate with the general Mexican population and when they did, it was limited to the criollo upper class. For this reason, one can find non-Spanish surnames among Mexico's elite, especially in Mexico City, to this day.^[10][11]

However, even when generalized mixing did occur, such as with the Cornish miners in Hidalgo state around Pachuca and Real de Monte, their cultural influence remains strong. In these areas, English style houses can be found and the signature dish is the "paste" a variation of the English pasty.^[19] In the early 20th century, a group of about 100 Russian immigrants, mostly Pryguny and some Molokane and Cossacks came to live in area near Ensenada, Baja California. The main colony is in the Valle de Guadalupe and locally known as the Colonia Rusa near the town of Francisco Zarco. Other smaller colonies include San Antonio, Mision del Orno and Punta Banda. There are an estimated 1000 descendents of these immigrants in Mexico, nearly all of whom have intermarried. The original settlements are now under the preservation of the Mexican government and have become tourist attractions.^[20]

By the end of the Porfirian era, Americans, British, French, Germans and Spanish were the most conspicuous whites in Mexico, but they were limited to Mexico City in enclaves, failing to produce the "whitening" effect desired. This history would mean that Mexico would never become a nation of immigrants, but rather one where a few well-connected newcomers could make a great impact. Despite Diaz' early efforts at attracting foreign immigration, he reversed course near the end of his government, nationalizing industries dominated by foreigners such as trains. Foreigners were blamed for much of the country's economic problems leading to restriction. This would cause many foreigners to leave.^[11] In the 20th century, especially after the Mexican Revolution, the mestizo was idealized, but it was still considered to be inferior to the European.^[8]

One reason for the Mexico's xenophobia was that Europeans and Americans often quickly dominated various industries and commerce in the country. By the mid-19th century, there were only 30,000 to 40,000 Caucasian immigrants compared to an overall population of over eight million, but their impact was strongly felt. For example, the Spanish and French came to dominate the textile industry and various areas of commerce, pioneering the industrialization of the country.^[10][11] Various Europeans and Americans also dominated mining, oil and cash crop agriculture. Many of these immigrants were not really immigrants at all, but rather "trade conquistadors" who remained in Mexico only long enough to make their fortunes to return to their home countries to retire.^[11] Large numbers of Americans in Texas, would eventually lead to the succession of that territory.^[10] These two experiences would strongly affect Mexico's immigration policy to this day, even though Mexico's total foreign population at its height in the 1930s, never exceeded one percent of the total.^[11]

Legal vestiges of attempts to "whiten" the population ended with the 1947 "Ley General de Población" along with the blurring of the lines between most of Mexico immigrant colonies and the general population. This blurring was hastened by the rise of a Mexican middle class, who enrolled their children in schools for foreigners and foreign organizations such as the German Club having a majority of Mexican members. However, this assimilation still has been mostly limited to Mexico's lighter skinned peoples. Mass culture promoted the Spanish language and most other European languages have declined and almost disappeared. Restrictive immigration policies since the 1970s have further pushed the assimilation process. Since then there has been very little immigration with the overwhelming majority of foreigners it the country on temporary visas.^[11]

Example of ethnic European groups in Mexico[link]

One of the few Porfirian era European settlements to survive to this day is centered on the small town of Chipilo in the state of Puebla. They are the descendents of about 500 Italian immigrants which came over in the 1880s, keeping their Venetian derived dialect and distinct ethnic identity, even though many have intermarried with other Mexicans. Many still farm and raise livestock but economic changes have pushed many into industry.^[21]

During the Mexican Revolution, Álvaro Obregón invited a group of German-speaking Mennonites in Canada to resettle in Chihuahua state. By the late 1920s, almost 10,000 had arrived from both Canada and Eastern Europe.^[11][22] Today, Mexico accounts for about 42% of all Mennonites in Latin America.^[9] Mennonites in the country stand out because of their light skin, hair and eyes. They keep to themselves keeping a form of German and traditional dress. They own their own businesses in various communities in Chihuahua, and account for about half of the state’s farm economy, standing out in cheese production .^[22]

Immigration was restricted by governments after Diaz' but never stopped entirely during the 20th century. Between 1937 and 1948, more than 18,000 Spanish Republicans arrived as refugees from the Francisco Franco dictatorship. Their reception by the Mexican criollo elite was mixed but they manage to experience success as most of these newcomers were educated as scholars and artists. This group founded the Colegio de Mexico, the country’s top academic institution. Another, smaller group from this time period were Jewish immigrants fleeing Hitler. Despite attempts to assimilate these immigrant groups, especially the country’s already existing German population during World War II, they remain mostly separate to this day.^[11]

The most recent mostly Caucasian immigrant group to Mexico has been the Argentines. The first arrived in the 1970s as political refugees along with some Chileans.^[23] The Argentines continued to arrive, with the next wave after the economic crisis of 2001 (ArgenMex), with the Argentine population in Mexico doubling from 2001 to 2007.^[24] Most of these immigrants are educated and from the country's professional classes. They are often found working in commercial centers, in publicity and many Mexican models are in fact of Argentine background.^[24][25]

67% of Latin America's English speaking population lives in Mexico.^[9] Most of these are American nationals, with an influx of people from the U.S. coming to live in Mexico since the 1930s, becoming the largest group of foreigners in the country since then. However, most Americans in Mexico are not immigrants in the traditional sense, as they are there living as retirees or otherwise do not consider themselves permanent residents.^[11][26]

See also[link]

• Afro-Mexican
• Indigenous Mexican
• White American
• White Brazilian
• White Latin American
• White people

Notes and references[link]

External links[link]

• Mexico Criollo Forum

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