Mestizos Of Belize and Latin America

Mestizo is a Spanish term that was coined during the Spanish Empire to refer to people of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry in Latin America. The term continues to be used today in the Americas, and somewhat in Spain's ex-possessions, Guam and the Philippines, to refer to people of mixed European and other indigenous ancestry.

The term is mostly used specifically of those people of the particular racial mixture of European and American Indian who inhabit and comprise much of the population of Latin America.

 

The word mestizo originated from the Romance / Latin word "Mixticius", meaning "mixed". In the Portuguese and French languages, the words "Mestiço" and "Métis" were also used in the Portuguese and French Empires to identify individuals of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry.

Under the caste system of Spanish America and Spain, the term originally applied to the children resulting from the union of one European and one Amerindian parent or the children of two mestizo parents. During this era, a myriad of other terms including "Castizo" (3/4 European and 1/4 Amerindian), Cuarterón de Indio, and "Cholo" (1/4 European and 3/4 Amerindian), were in use to denote other individuals of European-Amerindian ancestry in ratios smaller or greater than the 50:50 of mestizos.

Mestizos form the majority of the population in most of Latin America; however, it is difficult to know with any reasonable precision except by genetic studies how extensive the Mestizo population is. Various censuses since Spanish colonial days tracked the race of inhabitants of the Latin American countries, but even these statistics are only generally indicative since race was closely tied to official legal status (the Spanish caste system) and language use. Wealthy people paid to change or obscure their actual ancestry. Many indigenous people sought to be counted as mestizos to avoid tribute payments to the Spanish. Many indigenous people were classified as mestizo if they spoke Spanish or lived as Mestizos.

In general, the countries believed to have a majority mestizo population today are Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvadr, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Guatemala, and Paraguay. In some countries like Chile and Costa Rica, the majority of the population belongs to a group referred to as "White and Mestizo" where both groups are not easily separable. In Bolivia and Peru, mestizos form the second largest group. In Venezuela, they are nearly half the population and the largest group. In Argentina and Uruguay, the mestizo population form a small minority of 3% to 8% of the population.

In Mexico, the degree of admixture varies with region, although population mobility in recent decades has changed this somewhat. Generally, the degree of indigenous ancestry among mestizos increases from north to south. African ancestry is greater in the Gulf coast region, especially in the vicinity of Vera Cruz, and in the larger cities. Since the mid-nineteenth century, the African component has mostly been incorporated into the general mestizo population.

In Puerto Rico, genetic testing suggests that the largest component is Taíno, then European, and the smallest being African. The Taino element is considered to be the foundation of Puerto Rico's ancestral society. Taina women carried the children of Spanish, and African men. Genetic DNA is slanted towards Taino as being the largest component of the mtDNA, while yDNA testing shows a substantial contribution from North Africa, and Southern Spain.

In the Dominican Republic, mestizos of part Amerindian ancestry form a minority of the population ranging from 10% to 20%. Almost all of the population in those countries are composed of White, African, and Mulato (1/2 European and 1/2 African) ancestry who form the majority of the population.

Martín Cortés, son of the Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés and of the Náhuatl-Maya indigenous Mexican interpreter Malinche, was the first mestizo to arrive in Spain, though he did so against his will after being exiled in punishment for leading a rebellion with his younger brother to form a new government in Mexico.

The first mestizos of whom there is verified evidence of willingly having set foot on European soil are the grandchildren of Moctezuma II, Aztec emperor of Mexico, whose royal descent the Spanish crown acknowledged. Of this family, the most publicized descendants are the Acosta family and the Spanish Count Miravalle, in Andalucía, Spain, who in 2003 demanded that Mexico recommence payment of the so called 'Moctezuma pensions' the government cancelled in 1934. The interest alone of such pensions is said to be enough for every single one of Moctezuma's modern descendants to live comfortable lives.

From Peru also arrived the mestizo historian known as Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, son of Spanish Conquistador Sebastián Garcilaso de la Vega and of the Inca princess Isabel Chimpo Oclloun. He lived in the town of Montilla, in Andalucía, where he died in 1616.

Starting from the early 1970s and throughout all of the 1980s, Europe saw the arrival of thousands of Chileans, both mestizos and whites, 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 and Colombia.