![[Pasted image 20250202090244.png]] *Casta paintings like this describing the social status of different racial mixtures were common in the Spanish colonies* The Spanish imagined themselves to be at the top of a social pyramid, with people of mixed race beneath them and native peoples and Africans at the bottom. Because relatively few Spanish women emigrated to the colonies, especially in the early decades, many conquistadors took native women as wives and mistresses. Although the Spaniards believed pure Spanish blood (*sangre puro*) was most the noble, in practice Spanish-American society became quite mixed as Spanish men and native women had Mestizo children. In time an elaborate caste system developed where the social hierarchy consisted of first *Peninsulares* (Spaniards born in Spain on the Iberian Peninsula), then *Criollos* (people of pure Spanish ancestry, born in the Colonies), followed by *Mestizos* whose status often reflected the percentage of Spanish ancestry they could claim or the Spanish families they could claim relation to. An example of this was the family of La Malinche, the slave girl [[Malintzin]] who had been Hernán Cortés’s interpreter when he invaded Mexico and who was the mother of his son Martin. She was awarded with an encomienda and her son lived a long life and interacted with Spanish royalty. But only a few people occupied this privileged status. At the bottom of society were huge numbers of African slaves and Indians who were often also enslaved if they didn’t escape to the mountains or jungles where they could not be tracked and recaptured. ![[Casta_painting_all.jpg]] *Another Casta painting* --- Next: [[3.3 St. Augustine]] Back: [[3.1 First Spain]]