It is called Creole whites To the white people who were born in the American continent during the period of colonization by the European powers. Creole whites were consolidated as the ruling class because they maintained control of capital and far exceeded the Peninsular targets .
The Spanish colonial presence in America lasted more than 400 years: from the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the island of Guanahani, in the present-day Bahamas, until at the beginning of the 20th century lost their last colonies from the United States: Cuba and Puerto Rico . With respect to the Portuguese Empire, Brazil was discovered in 1500 and did not become independent until 1822.
Creole whites in Latin America
During this colonial period, the highest social ladder was occupied by peninsular targets, that is, the whites that came from the Iberian Peninsula. He was followed by the creole whites, who were the offspring of the peninsular born in America. Numerically speaking, in most countries of the Latin American region the browns or mestizos represented the majority of the population.
Unlike the British colonies, in the Spanish and Portuguese mestizaje was widespread, so that a great class of people was created products of the mixture between white, black and indigenous. This social class, at the end of the colonial period, began to remove white Creole lands in the economic part, because they were in charge of trades and sales.
Creole whites dominated the colonial period economically, being the large landowners of the American colonies. Among this class there was always discontent at not being able to occupy the highest positions of power.
For this reason, Creole whites were the ones who rebelled against the Spaniards after the Abdications of Bayonne And the wars of American independence began in the second decade of the nineteenth century.
With the independence of the different nations, the social stratification with respect to the different ethnic groups was in many cases overcome in the legal scope, but not in the society.
Whites have continued to occupy positions of power to this day. In this sense, it is important to note that slavery was abolished in most countries in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Origin of social stratification
Unlike the English colonizing process, in which they began to migrate complete families to the American continent, the Spanish and Portuguese ships only brought men. Initially, on the exploration trips there were no women, which led to the first miscegenation that occurred was between white men and indigenous women (Yépez, 2009).
Over the centuries, Spain and Portugal established the basis of their colonial empire in what we now call Latin America. The whites who became rooted in American lands at first had no distinction with their offspring, but within a few years began to differentiate.
The term criollo white was not defined from the outset. Authors such as Burkholder prefer to use the term"native children"and"native daughters,"because he claims that in different latitudes of the continent different denominations were given to whites born in America (2013).
Drawing of Spanish creoles published in the Peruvian chronicle of Huamán Pama de Ayala (16th century).
Other authors such as Pietschmann conclude that the definition of Creole whites as the descendants of peninsular Spanish whites in America, although it is the most widespread, is inaccurate. For him, Creoles are the white people whose economic and social center was on the continent (2003).
The divisions would quickly arise, constituting several types of targets. They were, besides the peninsular whites born in Spain or Portugal and of the criollos whites, the whites of shore, originating of the Canary Islands, that were dedicated mainly to the craftsmanship and the commerce (Yépez, 2009).
Rise to power
The seventeenth century was when Creole whites began to climb positions in the governmental and ecclesiastical hierarchy (Burkholder, 2013). Before, with still a reduced colonial expansion, it was easier to directly administer the power on the part of the Spanish emissaries.
The number of Creole whites surpassed that of peninsular targets, so new needs were raised. The criollos already had a position of dominant economic power, since they were the great owners of productive lands and owners of the great majority of the slave labor in the colonies.
This economic power began to generate a dispute with the political power, that yielded before the creoles, allowing them to accede gradually to the majority of the positions, but always reserving the ones of more importance for the peninsular targets.
However, the dispute was not only with the upper social class. The pardos became a majority in many of the Latin American colonies and began to dispute the position to the Creoles. The latter were opposed to the pardos being able to occupy the positions of power that they had already conquered (Yépez, 2009).
The pardos, unlike the whites, had a weak social position, although with time they were dedicating themselves to the school and they were able to constitute own schools and to be able to attend important churches. While the dispute between criollos and pardos whites took place, America revolted putting an end to the colonial empire.
Creoles and independence
Simon Bolivar , José de San Martín, José Gervasio Artigas, Bernardo O'Higgins, Antonio Jose de Sucre, and many more American liberators were, of course, Creole whites. This social group had always wanted to be able to occupy the highest positions of power, with positions like governor, captain-general or viceroy, and this was reflected in the independentistas moves made by these heroes.
The wars of independence, as stated by Perez (2010), were conflicts to a greater extent dominated by Creole whites, both on the patriot side and on the realist side. At first, the patriots were suspicious of the incorporation of mulattos and blacks to their troops, although thinking about military purposes were giving way.
However, between Peninsular and Creole there were marked and specific misunderstandings. This can be reflected in the Decree of War to Death That Simon Bolivar signed in the framework of the Admirable Campaign, in which he pardoned the life of the Americans even if they supported the Crown, but he demanded to the Europeans that if they wanted to save their life they should act for the independence of the towns.
Creole whites gained independence from the American colonies and were screwed into different positions of power. Over the years, those who were formerly considered shore targets, indigenous or pardos were able to reach the highest positions. With independence, the stratifications for race followed, but were diluted.
Bibliography
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