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''Castizo''Pronunciation in Latin American Spanish: is a racial category used in 18th-century
Colonial Mexico Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...
to refer to people who were three-quarters
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
by descent and one-quarter
Amerindian The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the Am ...
. The
feminine form In linguistics, grammatical gender system is a specific form of noun class system, where nouns are assigned with gender categories that are often not related to their real-world qualities. In languages with grammatical gender, most or all noun ...
of the word is ''castiza''. In the early 21st century, the term ''castizo'' has also come to mean mixed-race people with light skin, in comparison to ''
mulatto (, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese is ...
s'', ''
pardo ''Pardos'' (feminine ''pardas'') is a term used in the former Portuguese and Spanish colonies in the Americas to refer to the triracial descendants of Southern Europeans, Amerindians and West Africans. In some places they were defined as ne ...
s'', and ''coyotes'', who would be mixed-race people with darker skin. The category was widely recognized by the 18th century in colonial Mexico and was a standard category portrayed in eighteenth-century
casta paintings () is a term which means "lineage" in Spanish and Portuguese and has historically been used as a racial and social identifier. In the context of the Spanish Empire in the Americas it also refers to a now-discredited 20th-century theoretical f ...
.


History

In the taxonomic chart accompanying a work on casta paintings, ''castizo'' is given as "uncertain origin". It appears in 1543 with the meaning "class, condition, social position" (''calidad, clase o condición''). The term ''castizo'' applied to the offspring of a union of a Spaniard and a ''
mestiza (; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though their ...
'' (offspring of a Spaniard and an Indian woman); that is, someone who is of three-quarters Spanish and one-quarter Amerindian ancestry. During this era, various other terms (''mestizo'', ''cuarterón de indio'', etc.) were also used. Most scholars do not view the racial labels and hierarchical ordering as a rigid or official "system of
castes Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...
," since there was considerable fluidity in the designations. Individuals might be classified or identify themselves with different categories at different points in their lives. Sometimes different labels were used simultaneously in the same documentation. ''Castizo'' was a category used in colonial Mexico. Marriage licenses required a declaration of racial status for each partner. The category ''castizo'' "was widely recognized by the eighteenth century; castizos still did not appear in great numbers n parish documentationeven though they were widely distributed throughout
New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...
." In colonial censuses, officials sought to keep track of certain categories, particularly where a person could claim to be a Spaniard. "In the olonial Mexicancensuses of white/mestizo households, provisions were made to keep accurate records of castizos. The flexibility of having three categories (mestizo, castizo, and español) provided census takers a broader framework within which to capture differences of
phenotype In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology or physical form and structure, its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological proper ...
— presumably in hopes of closely regulating entry into the coveted español caste." Some were classified as ''castizos'' rather than ''españoles'', but "their castizo status allowed them to maintain social elevation with the broader mestizo mainstream." An eighteenth-century visitor to colonial Mexico published the following observation about race mixture between Spaniards and Amerindians:
"If the mixed-blood is the offspring of a Spaniard and an Indian, the stigma f race mixturedisappears at the third step in descent because it is held as systematic that a Spaniard and an Indian produce a mestizo; a mestizo and a Spaniard, a castizo; and a castizo and a Spaniard, a Spaniard. ote: This person is 7/8 Spanish by ancestry The admixture of Indian blood should not indeed be regarded as a blemish, since the provisions of law give the Indian all that he could wish for, and
Philip II Philip II may refer to: * Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BC) * Philip II (emperor) (238–249), Roman emperor * Philip II, Prince of Taranto (1329–1374) * Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404) * Philip II, Duke of Savoy (1438-1497) * Philip ...
granted to mestizos the privilege of becoming priests. On this consideration is based the common estimation of descent from a union of Indian and European or creole Spaniard."Don Pedro Alonso O’Crouley, ''A Description of the Kingdom of New Spain (1774)'', trans. and ed. Sean Galvin. San Francisco: John Howell Books 1972, p. 20


See also

*
Casta () is a term which means "lineage" in Spanish and Portuguese and has historically been used as a racial and social identifier. In the context of the Spanish America, Spanish Empire in the Americas it also refers to a now-discredited 20th-centu ...
*
Cholo ''Cholo'' () is a loosely defined Spanish term that has had various meanings. Its origin is a somewhat derogatory term for people of mixed-blood heritage in the Spanish Empire in Latin America and its successor states as part of '' castas'' ...
*
Mestizo (; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also r ...
*
Peninsulares In the context of the Spanish Empire, a ''peninsular'' (, pl. ''peninsulares'') was a Spaniard born in Spain residing in the New World, Spanish East Indies, or Spanish Guinea. Nowadays, the word ''peninsulares'' makes reference to Peninsular Sp ...
*
White Latin American White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...


Notes


References

{{Miscegenation in Spanish colonies Spanish colonization of the Americas History of Madrid Spanish culture Spanish language Latin American caste system Mestizo