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 Spain and in contrast to the "islanders" (''isleños''), from the Balearic or Canary Islands or the territories of Ceuta and Melilla.

A equivalent to the Spanish ''peninsulares'' in the Portuguese Colonial Brazil was the ''reinóis'', Portuguese people born in Portugal, while Portuguese born in Brazil with both parents being ''reinóis'' were known as ''mazombos''.

Spaniards born in the Spanish Philippines were called ''insular/es'' or originally ''filipino/s'''','' before "Filipino" now came to be known as all of the modern citizens of the now sovereign independent Philippines. Spaniards born in the colonies of the New World that today comprises the Hispanic America are called ''criollos'' (individuals of wholly European Spanish descent, but born in the New World).

Higher offices in Spanish America and the Spanish Philippines were held by ''peninsulares''. Apart from the distinction of ''peninsulares'' from ''criollo'', the '' castas'' system distinguished also ''mestizos'' of mixed Spanish and Amerindian ancestry in the Americas, and '''mestizos de español''' (mixed Spanish and native Filipino (Spanish Filipino)), or tornatras''' (mixed Spanish and Sangley Chinese (Chinese Filipino)) in the Philippines / Spanish East Indies, ''mulatos'' (of mixed Spanish and black ancestry), ''indios'' (Amerindians / Native Filipinos), ''zambos'' (mixed Amerindian and black ancestry) and finally ''negros''. In some places and times, such as during the wars of independence, ''peninsulares'' or members of conservative parties were called depreciatively '' godos'' (meaning ''Goths'', referring to the "Visigoths", who had ruled Spain and were considered the origin of Spanish aristocracy) or, in Mexico, '' gachupines''.gachupín
in the Diccionario de la lengua española ''Godos'' is still used pejoratively in the Canary Islands for the peninsular Spanish, and in Chile for Spaniards.

Colonial officials at the highest levels arrived from Spain to fulfill their duty to govern Spanish colonies in Latin America and the Philippines. They defended Cádiz's monopoly on trade, upsetting the ''criollos'', who turned to contraband with British and French colonies, especially in areas away from the main ports of call for the '' Flota de Indias''. They worked to preserve centralized imperial power and sometimes acted as agents of patrol.

See also

*Dominant minority
*Isleños
* Gachupín
*List of governors in the viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata
*List of viceroys of New Granada
*List of viceroys of New Spain
*List of viceroys of Peru

References

{{Reflist

Ethnic groups in the Americas
Ethnic groups in Latin America
Latin American caste system
Spanish colonization of the Americas
White Latin American