Document Set D: Diversity, Segregation and Integration
Document D1: Idea Compendiosa del Reyno de Nueva Esparna by Pedro Alonso O'Crouley
In his Idea compendiosa del Reyno de Nueva Esparña (1774), the native of Cádiz, Pedro Alonso O'Crouley, also provides a detailed description of the lineages of New Spain. In this account the author explains how Spanish blood as opposed to Black could be redeemed:
It is known that neither Indian nor Negro contends in dignity and esteem with the Spaniard; nor do any of the others envy the lot of the Negro, who is the "most dispirited and despised." . . If the mixed-blood is the offspring of a Spaniard and an Indian, the stigma disappears 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... Because it is agreed that from a Spaniard and a Negro a mulato is born; from a mulato and a Spaniard, a morisco; from a morisco and a Spaniard, a torna atras [return-back-wards]; and from a torna atras and a Spaniard, a tente en el aire [hold-yourself-in-mid-air], which is the same as mulato, it is said, and with reason, that a mulato can never leave his condition of mixed blood, but rather it is the Spanish element that is lost and absorbed into the condition of a Negro.... The same thing happens from the union of a Negro and Indian, the descent begins as follows: Negro and Indian produce a lobo [wolf]; lobo and Indian, a chino; and chino and Indian, an albarazado [white spotted]; all of which incline towards the mulato.
http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/laberinto/fall1997/casta1997.htm
It is known that neither Indian nor Negro contends in dignity and esteem with the Spaniard; nor do any of the others envy the lot of the Negro, who is the "most dispirited and despised." . . If the mixed-blood is the offspring of a Spaniard and an Indian, the stigma disappears 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... Because it is agreed that from a Spaniard and a Negro a mulato is born; from a mulato and a Spaniard, a morisco; from a morisco and a Spaniard, a torna atras [return-back-wards]; and from a torna atras and a Spaniard, a tente en el aire [hold-yourself-in-mid-air], which is the same as mulato, it is said, and with reason, that a mulato can never leave his condition of mixed blood, but rather it is the Spanish element that is lost and absorbed into the condition of a Negro.... The same thing happens from the union of a Negro and Indian, the descent begins as follows: Negro and Indian produce a lobo [wolf]; lobo and Indian, a chino; and chino and Indian, an albarazado [white spotted]; all of which incline towards the mulato.
http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/laberinto/fall1997/casta1997.htm
Document D2: Casta Painting
Click to view larger image.
Source: wikipedia.org
English Translation: (via Google Translator)
1. Spanish with Indian, Mestizo
2. Spanish with mestizo, Racy
3. Racy with Spanish, Spanish
4. Spanish with Black, Mulatto
5. Mulatto with Spanish, Moorish
6. Moorish with Spanish, Chinese
7. China with Indian, Skip back
8. Skip back to Mulatta, Wolf
9. China with Wolf, Gíbaro (Jibaro)
10. Gíbaro with Mulata, Albarazado
11. Albarazado with Black cambujo
12. Cambujo with Indian, Sambiaga (Zambiaga)
13. Sambiago with Wolf, Calpamulato
14. Calpamulto with Cambuja, Up in the Air
15. Up in the Air with Mulata, I Do Not Understand
16. I do not understand with India, Returns Back
1. Spanish with Indian, Mestizo
2. Spanish with mestizo, Racy
3. Racy with Spanish, Spanish
4. Spanish with Black, Mulatto
5. Mulatto with Spanish, Moorish
6. Moorish with Spanish, Chinese
7. China with Indian, Skip back
8. Skip back to Mulatta, Wolf
9. China with Wolf, Gíbaro (Jibaro)
10. Gíbaro with Mulata, Albarazado
11. Albarazado with Black cambujo
12. Cambujo with Indian, Sambiaga (Zambiaga)
13. Sambiago with Wolf, Calpamulato
14. Calpamulto with Cambuja, Up in the Air
15. Up in the Air with Mulata, I Do Not Understand
16. I do not understand with India, Returns Back
Document D3: Hierarchy of Latin American Colonies
Document D4: Population of Latin American Colonies
Document D5: 13 British Colonies
Document D6: Virginia, 1691
"For prevention of that abominable mixture and spurious [children] which hereafter may increase in this dominion, as well as by negroes, mulattos, and Indians intermarrying with English, or other white women, as by their unlawful accompanying with one another,
"Be it enacted ... that ... whatsoever English or other white man or woman being free, shall intermarry with a negro, mulatto or Indian man or woman bond or free shall within three months after such marriage be banished and removed from this dominion forever ...”
"Be it enacted ... that ... whatsoever English or other white man or woman being free, shall intermarry with a negro, mulatto or Indian man or woman bond or free shall within three months after such marriage be banished and removed from this dominion forever ...”
Document D7: Independence and Revolution in the Americas, Anthony McFarlane
"In the Iberian (Spanish and Portuguese) powers, colonial settlement rested on the exploitation of non-European peoples in social structures which were both hierarchical and authoritarian. The Spanish-American colonies were created by the conquest of large Amerindian societies, and had developed social and economic structures in which superordinate white minorities dominated a subordinate mass of Indian and mixed-race peasants and workers."
"In the Iberian (Spanish and Portuguese) powers, colonial settlement rested on the exploitation of non-European peoples in social structures which were both hierarchical and authoritarian. The Spanish-American colonies were created by the conquest of large Amerindian societies, and had developed social and economic structures in which superordinate white minorities dominated a subordinate mass of Indian and mixed-race peasants and workers."
Discussion Questions:
1. Taking documents D1- D4 together, what attitudes are expressed about race?
2. Look at documents D5-D6, what attitudes do these documents express about race?
3. How are the attitudes about race in the 13 British colonies and the Latin American colonies similar? How are they different?
4. How do these documents help us to answer the question:
"Why were British North American colonists better prepared for Independence than their Latin American neighbors to the south?”
2. Look at documents D5-D6, what attitudes do these documents express about race?
3. How are the attitudes about race in the 13 British colonies and the Latin American colonies similar? How are they different?
4. How do these documents help us to answer the question:
"Why were British North American colonists better prepared for Independence than their Latin American neighbors to the south?”