SPANISH
COLONIZATION
BEGINNING
• With the arrival of
the Europeans
following Christopher
Columbus's voyages,
the indigenous elites,
such as the Incas
and Aztecs, lost
power to the heavy
European invasion
What kind of people were the original
Spanish settlers?
Spanish settlers, were
primarily poor nobles from the
impoverished west and south
of Spain and poor soldiers
with noble titles obtained
during the war against the
Moorish (they had the titles
of hidalgos and knights) who
came to America with hopes of
finding riches.
They built the aristocracy of
the new cities, and also
Governors, mayors and all the
kingdom staff were appointed
between them.
What happened with the Native
Americans during the colony?
• Native Americans who survive to the
conquer wars were reduced to a
condition of virtual slavery and were
forced to work in European
plantations and mines. However,
some priest like Dominican Juan
Bartolomé de las Casas worked to
avoid their maltreatment arguing
that Americans were being doted
with souls, as all other human beings.
• Then, new laws were created to
protect them. Finally, most of the
American Indians of our country
were subjugated by the Spaniards
working as servants.
CASTE SYSTEM: RACE
• During the Spanish
colonial period,
Spaniards developed a
complex caste system
based on race, which
was used for social
control and which also
determined a person's
importance in society.
There were four main
categories of race:
– Peninsular : a Spaniard
born in Spain.
– Criollo : a person of
Spanish descent born
in Mesoamerica.
– Indio : a person who is
a native,or indigenous
to, Mesoamerica,
– Negro : a person of
African slave descent.
Persons of mixed race
were collectively
referred to as "castas”
• Mestizos: People with
one Spanish parent
and one Indian
parent.
• Cholos: or Coyotes:
People with one
Indian parent and one
Mestizo parent.
• Mulatos or Pardos: People
of the first generation of a
Spanish and Black mix.
• Zambos: People who were
of mixed Indian and Black
ancestry.
PURE RACES
• Spaniards (Españoles):
• These were persons of Spanish
descent
• Indians (Indios):
The second of the original "races"
in Spanish America, the law
treated them as minors.
• Blacks (Negros):
With Spaniards and
Indians, this was
the third original
"race" in this
paradigm, but low
on the social scale
because of their
association with
slavery.
Social Organization
Spaniards (Españoles): These were
persons of Spanish descent. People of
other European descent who had
settled in Spanish America and adapted
to Hispanic culture
Criollos or Crioles : (Españoles
criollos or Españoles americanos):
People of Spanish ancestry (People
who have a direct lineage from Spain
but were born in the Americas.
Mestizos, mulatos and zambos :
Persons with one Spanish parent and
one Indian parent.
Indians (Indios): The second of the
original "races" in Spanish America,
the law treated them as minors, and as
such were to be protected by royal
officials, but in reality were often
abused by the local elites.
Blacks (Negros): With Spaniards and
Indians, this was the third original
"race" in this paradigm, but low on the
social scale because of their
association with slavery.
SPANIARDS- PENINSULARES
• Colonial society relied
on "purity of blood" as
a basis for
stratification. The
elites at the top of the
social pyramid were
peninsulares, persons
of Spanish descent
born in Spain.
Peninsulares held
political power and
social prestige in the
society
CRIOLLOS
• Below them were the criollos,
those of Spanish descent born
in the colonies. This group
had limited access to the
higher circles of power and
status. For generations the
criollos accepted a position of
inferiority to the
peninsulares, but in the late
eighteenth century their
acquiescence was transformed
into a resentment that
ultimately led to their fight
for independence
MESTIZOS
• Next in importance and the
most numerous were the
mestizos, persons of mixed
Spanish and Indian descent
who were free but relegated
to positions of low prestige.
Most Indians gradually
became absorbed
linguistically or lost their
identity through mixture
with other peoples; by the
late 1980s, Indians
constituted only 1 percent
of the Colombian
population.
BLACK AND ZAMBO
• Black African slaves
and zambos, persons
of mixed African and
Indian descent, were
at the bottom of the
social scale and were
important only as a
source of labor.