Mestizo

For the Portuguese term, see Mestiço.

Mestizo (meh-STEE-tzo) is a Spanish term for a person who is of mixed Spanish and Amerindian ancestry.

Mestizo

A casta painting of a Spanish man and an Indigenous woman with a Mestizo child
Regions with significant populations
Latin America, United States, Spain, Philippines, Micronesia
Languages
Spanish (mainly), Indigenous languages of the Americas, and Austronesian languages
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholic; religious minorities including Protestants and syncretism with Indigenous beliefs exist
Related ethnic groups
Spaniards Indigenous peoples of the Americas Métis

An image from colonial South America shows that mestizos are the children of Spanish people and Indigenous people

Mestizos have existed since Spain controlled much of what is now Latin America. A mestizo was usually the son of a Spanish father and a Native American mother. Mestizos form the largest part of the population in some Latin American nations. A large minority of mestizos makes up most of the population in Mexico, the Spanish-speaking nation with the largest population in the world.

During the colonial era, many Native Americans had converted to Roman Catholicism and began using Spanish instead of their traditional language. This was because of the racial segregation that existed in the Spanish colonies, which gave more "value" to Spaniards over Native Americans and Africans. Because of this, many Native Americans gained better social status by calling themselves "mestizos" instead of "Indios."

Indo-Mestizo

Indo-Mestizo (also known as Cholo) is a Spanish term for a person who is around 3/4 Native American and 1/4 Spanish ancestry and a derogatory term used by the Spanish caste system for racial discrimination against original Native people.

Indo-Mestizo is a racial slur used mostly to discriminate against original Native people in Eastern and Southern Mexico, much of Northern Central America, in South American West Pacific Side Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Colombia, and Bolivia.

Indo-Mestizos usually have more Native American traits but may have a light pigmentation with completely Native American features or a dark pigmentation with some obvious Spanish features.

Famous Indo-Mestizos include Maya Zapata, George Lopez, and Danny Trejo. They are so-called because of their appearance, not because of their known genetic background.