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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.

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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.

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.