Editing Mestizo (section)

==Spanish-speaking North America==

===Mexico===
{{See also|Mestizos in Mexico}}
Around 40–90% of Mexicans can be classified as "mestizos", meaning in modern Mexican usage that they identify fully neither with any European heritage nor with an Indigenous ethnic group, but rather identify as having cultural traits incorporating both European and Indigenous elements. In Mexico, mestizo has become a blanket term that not only refers to [[Mixed race|mixed]] Mexicans but includes all Mexican citizens who do not speak [[Languages of Mexico|Indigenous languages]]<ref name="EL MESTIZAJE Y LAS CULTURAS REGIONALES"/><ref name=redalyc>{{cite web |url=http://www.redalyc.org/pdf/105/10503808.pdf |title=Al respecto no debe olvidarse que en estos países buena parte de las personas consideradas biológicamente blancas son mestizas en el aspecto cultural, el que aquí nos interesa (p. 196) |publisher=Redalyc.org |date=16 March 2005 |access-date=27 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022220348/http://www.redalyc.org/pdf/105/10503808.pdf |archive-date=22 October 2013 }}</ref>

[[File:Gonzalo Guerrero.JPG|thumb|upright|A statue of [[Gonzalo Guerrero]], who adopted the Maya way of life and fathered the first mestizo children in [[Mexico]] and in the mainland [[Americas]] (the only mestizos before were those born in the Caribbean to Spanish men and Indigenous Caribbean women)]]
Sometimes, particularly outside of Mexico, the word "mestizo" is used with the meaning of Mexican persons with mixed Indigenous and European blood. This usage does not conform to the Mexican social reality where a person of pure Indigenous ancestry would be considered mestizo either by rejecting his Indigenous culture or by not speaking an Indigenous language,<ref name="Bartolomé 1996:2"/> and a person with none or very low Indigenous ancestry would be considered Indigenous either by speaking an Indigenous language or by identifying with a particular Indigenous cultural heritage.<ref name="Knight 1990:73">{{cite book |last=Knight |first=Alan |year=1990 |chapter=Racism, Revolution and ''indigenismo'': Mexico 1910–1940 |title=The Idea of Race in Latin America, 1870–1940 |editor-first=Richard |editor-last=Graham |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ideaofraceinlat000grah/page/73 73] |location=Austin |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-73856-0 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ideaofraceinlat000grah/page/73}}</ref> In the [[Yucatán Peninsula]], the word mestizo has a different meaning to the one used in the rest of Mexico, being used to refer to the [[Yucatec Maya language|Maya]]-speaking populations living in traditional communities, because during the [[Caste War of Yucatán]] of the late 19th century those Maya who did not join the rebellion were classified as mestizos.<ref name="Bartolomé 1996:2">{{cite book |last=Bartolomé |first=Miguel Alberto |year=1996 |chapter=Pluralismo cultural y redefinicion del estado en México |title=Coloquio sobre derechos indígenas |location=Oaxaca |publisher=IOC |isbn=978-968-6951-31-8 |chapter-url=http://courses.cit.cornell.edu/iard4010/documents/Pluralismo_cultural_y_redefinicion_del_estado_en_Mexico.pdf |page=2}}</ref> In Chiapas, the term [[Ladino people|''Ladino'']] is used instead of Mestizo.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wade |first=Peter |year=1997 |title=Race and Ethnicity in Latin America |location=Chicago |publisher=Pluto Press |isbn=978-0-7453-0987-3 |pages=44–47}}</ref>

Due to the extensiveness of the modern definition of mestizo, various publications offer different estimations of this group, some try to use a biological, racial perspective and calculate the mestizo population in contemporary Mexico as being around a half and two-thirds of the population,<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Mexico- Ethnic groups|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Mexico/Ethnic-groups|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=1 October 2016}}</ref> while others use the culture-based definition, and estimate the percentage of mestizos as high as 90%<ref name="EL MESTIZAJE Y LAS CULTURAS REGIONALES" /> of the Mexican population, several others mix-up both due lack of knowledge in regards to the modern definition and assert that mixed ethnicity Mexicans are as much as 93% of Mexico's population.<ref name=INMEGEN1>{{cite web|last1=González Sobrino|first1=Blanca Zoila|last2=Silva Zolezzi|first2=Irma|last3=Sebastián Medina|first3=Leticia|title=Miradas sin rendicíon, imaginario y presencia del universo indígena|url=http://www.inmegen.gob.mx/tema/cms_page_media/397/Miradas_LETY%20SEBASTIÁN_.pdf|publisher=INMEGEN|access-date=8 March 2015|pages=51–67|language=es|date=2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705014357/http://www.inmegen.gob.mx/tema/cms_page_media/397/Miradas_LETY%20SEBASTI%C3%81N_.pdf|archive-date=5 July 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> Paradoxically to its wide definition, the word mestizo has long been dropped off popular Mexican vocabulary, with the word sometimes having pejorative connotations,<ref name="Bartolomé 1996:2" /> which further complicates attempts to quantify mestizos via self-identification.

While for most of its history the concept of mestizo and mestizaje has been lauded by Mexico's intellectual circles, in recent times the concept has been a target of criticism, with its detractors claiming that it delegitimizes the importance of ethnicity in Mexico under the idea of "(racism) not existing here (in Mexico), as everybody is mestizo."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Moreno Figueroa |first1=Mónica G. |last2=Moreno Figueroa |first2=Mónica G. |title=El archivo del estudio del racismo en México |trans-title=An Archive of the Study of Racism in Mexico |language=es |journal=Desacatos |date=August 2016 |issue=51 |pages=92–107 |id={{ProQuest|1812273925}} |url=http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1607-050X2016000200092&lng=es&nrm=iso}}</ref> Anthropologist Federico Navarrete concludes that reintroducing racial classification, and accepting itself as a multicultural country, as opposed to a monolithic mestizo country, would bring benefits to Mexican society as a whole.<ref>{{cite web|title=El mestizaje en Mexico|url=http://enp4.unam.mx/amc/libro_munioz_cota/libro/cap4/lec10_federiconavarreteelmestizaje.pdf|access-date=15 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801102632/http://enp4.unam.mx/amc/libro_munioz_cota/libro/cap4/lec10_federiconavarreteelmestizaje.pdf|archive-date=1 August 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

====Genetic studies====
[[File:Genetic variation of mestizo populations in Latin America.PNG|thumb|Distribution of admixture estimates for individuals from [[Mexico City]] (left) and [[Quetalmahue]], Chile (right). The position of each dot on the triangle plot indicates the proportion of European, indigenous American and African ancestry estimated for each individual in the population.]]
A 2020 study published in ''Human Immunology'' analyzed the genetic diversity of the Mexican population through the HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen) system, a set of genes involved in immune response. The findings confirm that the genetic composition of mestizos varies significantly across different regions of Mexico, reflecting the admixture patterns observed in previous studies. Specifically:

* Indigenous American ancestry is predominant in the southern region
* European ancestry is higher in the northern and western regions
* A low but significant African ancestry is present in certain areas

The study also highlights that genetic variation among Mexican populations has medical implications, affecting susceptibility to autoimmune and infectious diseases.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Barquera |first1=Rodrigo |last2=Hernández-Zaragoza |first2=Diana Iraíz |last3=Bravo-Acevedo |first3=Alicia |last4=Arrieta-Bolaños |first4=Esteban |last5=Clayton |first5=Stephen |last6=Acuña-Alonzo |first6=Víctor |last7=Martínez-Álvarez |first7=Julio César |last8=López-Gil |first8=Concepción |last9=Adalid-Sáinz |first9=Carmen |last10=Vega-Martínez |first10=María del Rosario |last11=Escobedo-Ruíz |first11=Araceli |last12=Juárez-Cortés |first12=Eva Dolores |last13=Immel |first13=Alexander |last14=Pacheco-Ubaldo |first14=Hanna |last15=González-Medina |first15=Liliana |date=September 2020 |title=The immunogenetic diversity of the HLA system in Mexico correlates with underlying population genetic structure |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.humimm.2020.06.008 |journal=Human Immunology |volume=81 |issue=9 |pages=461–474 |doi=10.1016/j.humimm.2020.06.008 |pmid=32651014 |issn=0198-8859|hdl=21.11116/0000-0006-ACD5-8 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> The biological diversity observed in contemporary Latin American populations reflects the region's complex demographic history, shaped by extensive geographic movements and social stratification among ancestral human groups. Previous studies have demonstrated that the geographic variation in admixture proportions reveals significant population structure, highlighting the lasting influence of historical demographic processes on the genomic diversity of Latin America.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Barquera |first=Rodrigo |last2=Hernández-Zaragoza |first2=Diana Iraíz |last3=Bravo-Acevedo |first3=Alicia |last4=Arrieta-Bolaños |first4=Esteban |last5=Clayton |first5=Stephen |last6=Acuña-Alonzo |first6=Víctor |last7=Martínez-Álvarez |first7=Julio César |last8=López-Gil |first8=Concepción |last9=Adalid-Sáinz |first9=Carmen |last10=Vega-Martínez |first10=María del Rosario |last11=Escobedo-Ruíz |first11=Araceli |last12=Juárez-Cortés |first12=Eva Dolores |last13=Immel |first13=Alexander |last14=Pacheco-Ubaldo |first14=Hanna |last15=González-Medina |first15=Liliana |date=2020-09-01 |title=The immunogenetic diversity of the HLA system in Mexico correlates with underlying population genetic structure |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0198885920303438?via=ihub |journal=Human Immunology |series=Population immunogenetics of Mexican mixed ancestry populations |volume=81 |issue=9 |pages=461–474 |doi=10.1016/j.humimm.2020.06.008 |issn=0198-8859|hdl=21.11116/0000-0006-ACD5-8 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

A 2012 study published by the [[Journal of Human Genetics]] found that the Y-chromosome (paternal) ancestry of the average Mexican mestizo was predominantly European (64.9%), followed by Indigenous American (30.8%), and African (4.2%). The European ancestry was more prevalent in the north and west (66.7–95%) and Indigenous American ancestry increased in the centre and south-east (37–50%), the African ancestry was low and relatively homogeneous (0–8.8%).<ref name="pmid22832385">{{cite journal |last1=Martínez-Cortés |first1=Gabriela |last2=Salazar-Flores |first2=Joel |last3=Gabriela Fernández-Rodríguez |first3=Laura |last4=Rubi-Castellanos |first4=Rodrigo |last5=Rodríguez-Loya |first5=Carmen |last6=Velarde-Félix |first6=Jesús Salvador |last7=Francisco Muñoz-Valle |first7=José |last8=Parra-Rojas |first8=Isela |last9=Rangel-Villalobos |first9=Héctor |title=Admixture and population structure in Mexican-Mestizos based on paternal lineages |journal=Journal of Human Genetics |date=September 2012 |volume=57 |issue=9 |pages=568–574 |doi=10.1038/jhg.2012.67 |pmid=22832385 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The states that participated in this study were Aguascalientes, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Durango, Guerrero, Jalisco, Oaxaca, Sinaloa, Veracruz and Yucatán.<ref name="pmid22832385" />

A study of 104 mestizos from Sonora, Yucatán, Guerrero, Zacatecas, Veracruz, and Guanajuato by Mexico's National Institute of Genomic Medicine, reported that mestizo Mexicans are 58.96% European, 31.05% Indigenous American, and 10.03% African. [[Sonora]] shows the highest European contribution (70.63%) and [[Guerrero]] the lowest (51.98%) which also has the highest Indigenous American contribution (37.17%). African contribution ranges from 2.8% in Sonora to 11.13% in [[Veracruz]]. 80% of the Mexican population was classed as mestizo (defined as "being racially mixed in some degree").<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url=http://www.ashg.org/genetics/ashg06s/f10071.htm|title=Evaluation of Ancestry and Linkage Disequilibrium Sharing in Admixed Population in Mexico|author1=J.K. Estrada|author2=A. Hidalgo-Miranda|author3=I. Silva-Zolezzi|author4=G. Jimenez-Sanchez|publisher=ASHG|access-date=18 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116235945/http://www.ashg.org/genetics/ashg06s/f10071.htm|archive-date=16 January 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In May 2009, the same institution (Mexico's National Institute of Genomic Medicine) issued a report on a genomic study of 300 mestizos from those same states. The study found that the mestizo population of these Mexican states were on average 55% of Indigenous ancestry followed by 41.8% of European, 1.8% of African, and 1.2% of East Asian ancestry.<ref name="pmid19433783">{{cite journal |last1=Silva-Zolezzi |first1=Irma |last2=Hidalgo-Miranda |first2=Alfredo |last3=Estrada-Gil |first3=Jesus |last4=Fernandez-Lopez |first4=Juan Carlos |last5=Uribe-Figueroa |first5=Laura |last6=Contreras |first6=Alejandra |last7=Balam-Ortiz |first7=Eros |last8=del Bosque-Plata |first8=Laura |last9=Velazquez-Fernandez |first9=David |last10=Lara |first10=Cesar |last11=Goya |first11=Rodrigo |last12=Hernandez-Lemus |first12=Enrique |last13=Davila |first13=Carlos |last14=Barrientos |first14=Eduardo |last15=March |first15=Santiago |last16=Jimenez-Sanchez |first16=Gerardo |title=Analysis of genomic diversity in Mexican Mestizo populations to develop genomic medicine in Mexico |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |date=26 May 2009 |volume=106 |issue=21 |pages=8611–8616 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0903045106 |pmid=19433783 |pmc=2680428 |bibcode=2009PNAS..106.8611S |doi-access=free}}</ref> The study also noted that whereas mestizo individuals from the southern state of Guerrero showed on average 66% of Indigenous ancestry, those from the northern state of Sonora displayed about 61.6% European ancestry. The study found that there was an increase in Indigenous ancestry as one traveled towards to the Southern states in Mexico, while the Indigenous ancestry declined as one traveled to the Northern states in the country, such as Sonora.<ref name=pmid19433783 />

=== Central America ===
{{Main|Ladino people}}
The [[Ladino people]] are a mix of Mestizo or [[Hispanicization|Hispanicized]] peoples<ref name="DRAE">''[http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltGUIBusUsual?LEMA=ladino&TIPO_HTML=2&FORMATO=ampliado#0_2 Ladino]'' en el [[Diccionario de la Real Academia Española]] (DRAE)</ref> in [[Latin America]], principally in [[Central America]]. The [[demonym]] ''Ladino'' is a [[Spanish language|Spanish]] word that derives from ''[[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Latino]]''. ''Ladino'' is an [[exonym]] dating to the [[European colonization of the Americas|colonial era]] to refer to those Spanish-speakers who were not colonial elites ([[Peninsulares]] and [[Criollo people|Criollos]]), or Indigenous peoples.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ress.afehc.apinc.org/_articles/portada_afehc_articulos29.pdf|title=Reflexiones sobre el mestizaje y la identidad nacional en Centroamérica: de la colonia a las Républicas liberales|author=Soto-Quiros, Ronald|year=2006|work=Boletín No. 25. AFEHC. Asociación para el Fomento de los Estudios en Centroamérica, "Mestizaje, Raza y Nación en Centroamérica: identidades tras conceptos, 1524-1950". Octubre 2006.|language=es|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110826022842/http://ress.afehc.apinc.org/_articles/portada_afehc_articulos29.pdf|archive-date=26 August 2011}}</ref>

====Costa Rica====

[[File:Chavela Vargas 060701-cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Chavela Vargas]] Mixed-Costa Rican Born -  Singer]]
[[File:RealM-Shahter15 (9).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Keylor Navas]] Mixed-Costa Rican - [[Real Madrid]] Goalkeeper]]

{{As of | 2012}}, most Costa Ricans are primarily of Spanish or mestizo ancestry with minorities of German, Italian, Jamaican, and Greek ancestry.

European migrants used Costa Rica to get across the isthmus of Central America as well to reach the U.S. West Coast ([[California]]) in the late 19th century and until the 1910s (before the [[Panama Canal]] opened). Other ethnic groups known to live in Costa Rica include Nicaraguan, Colombians, Venezuelans, Peruvian, Brazilians, Portuguese, [[Palestinians]], Caribbeans, Turks, Armenians, and Georgians.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

Costa Rica has four small minority groups: [[Mulatto]]s, [[Afro-Latin Americans|Afro]], [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous Costa Ricas]], and [[Asians]]. About 8% of the population is of African descent or mulatto (mix of European and African) who are called [[Afro-Costa Rican]]s, English-speaking descendants of 19th century Afro-[[Jamaica]]n immigrant workers.

By the late 20th century, allusions in textbooks and political discourse to "whiteness," or to Spain as the "mother country" of all Costa Ricans, were diminishing, replaced with a recognition of the multiplicity of peoples that make up the nation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.everyculture.com/Bo-Co/Costa-Rica.html#ixzz5VSnSmoYJ|title=Culture of Costa Rica - history, people, women, beliefs, food, customs, family, social, marriage|website=www.everyculture.com}}</ref>

====El Salvador====

[[File:Proclama de libertad (indep. Centroamérica).jpg|thumb|Painting of the First Independence Movement celebration in San Salvador, El Salvador. At the center, [[José Matías Delgado]], a Salvadoran priest and doctor known as El Padre de la Patria Salvadoreña (The Father of the Salvadoran Fatherland), alongside his nephew [[Manuel José Arce]], future Salvadoran president of the [[Federal Republic of Central America]].]]

In [[Central America]], intermarriage by European men with Indigenous women, typically of [[Lenca]], [[Cacaopera people|Cacaopera]] and [[Pipil people|Pipil]] backgrounds in what is now [[El Salvador]] happened almost immediately after the arrival of the [[Spaniards]] led by [[Pedro de Alvarado]]. Other Indigenous groups in the country such as [[Maya peoples|Maya]] [[Poqomam people]], [[Maya peoples|Maya]] [[Ch'orti' people]], [[Alaguilac people|Alaguilac]], [[Xinca people]], [[Mixe people|Mixe]] and [[Mangue language]] people became culturally extinct due to the mestizo process or diseases brought by the Spaniards. Mestizo culture quickly became the most successful and dominant culture in El Salvador. The majority of Salvadorans in modern El Salvador identify themselves as 86.3% Mestizo roots.<ref>[http://www.digestyc.gob.sv/servers/redatam/htdocs/CPV2007S/Docs/RESULTADOS_FINALES.pdf Ethnic Groups -2007 official Census]. Page 13, Digestyc.gob.sv</ref>

Historical evidence and census supports the explanation of "strong sexual asymmetry", as a result of a strong bias favoring children born to European man and Indigenous women, and to the important Indigenous male mortality during the conquest. The genetics thus suggests the Native men were sharply reduced in numbers due to the war and disease. Large numbers of Spaniard men settled in the region and married or forced themselves with the local women. The Natives were forced to adopt Spanish names, language, and religion, and in this way, the Lencas and Pipil women and children were Hispanicized. This has made El Salvador one of the world's most highly mixed race nations.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}

In 1932, ruthless dictator [[Maximiliano Hernández Martínez]] was responsible for La Matanza ("The Slaughter"), known as the [[1932 Salvadoran peasant massacre]] in which the Indigenous people were murdered in an effort to wipe out the Indigenous people in El Salvador during the 1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising. Indigenous peoples, mostly of Lenca, Cacaopera, and Pipil descent are still present in El Salvador in several communities, conserving their languages, customs, and traditions.

There is a significant Arab population (of about 100,000), mostly from [[Palestinian Salvadoran|Palestine]] (especially from the area of Bethlehem), but also from Lebanon. Salvadorans of Palestinian descent numbered around 70,000 individuals, while Salvadorans of [[Lebanese people|Lebanese]] descent is around 27,000. There is also a small community of Jews who came to El Salvador from France, Germany, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey. Many of these Arab groups naturally mixed and contributed into the modern Salvadoran Mestizo population.

[[Pardo]] is the term that was used in colonial El Salvador to describe a person of tri-racial or Indigenous, European, and African descent. El Salvador is the only country in Central America that does not have a significant African population due to many factors including El Salvador not having a Caribbean coast, and because of president [[Maximiliano Hernández Martínez]], who passed racial laws to keep people of African descent and others out of El Salvador, though [[Afro-Salvadoran|Salvadorans with African ancestry]], called Pardos, were already present in El Salvador, the majority are tri-racial Pardo Salvadorans who largely cluster with the Mestizo population. They have been mixed into and were naturally bred out by the general Mestizo population, which is a combination of a Mestizo majority and the minority of Pardo people, both of whom are racially mixed populations. A total of only 10,000 enslaved Africans were brought to El Salvador over the span of 75 years, starting around 1548, about 25 years after El Salvador's colonization. The enslaved Africans that were brought to El Salvador during the colonial times, eventually came to mix and merged into the much larger and vaster Mestizo mixed European Spanish/Native Indigenous population creating Pardo or Afromestizos who cluster with Mestizo people, contributing into the modern day Mestizo population in El Salvador, thus, there remains no significant extremes of African physiognomy among Salvadorans like there is in the other countries of Central America.

Today, many Salvadorans identify themselves as being culturally part of the majority Salvadoran mestizo population, even if they are racially European (especially Mediterranean), as well as Indigenous people in El Salvador who do not speak Indigenous languages nor have an Indigenous culture, and tri-racial/pardo Salvadorans or Arab Salvadorans.{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}}

====Guatemala====
{{See also|Demographics of Guatemala}}
The Ladino population in [[Guatemala]] is officially recognized as a distinct ethnic group, and the Ministry of Education of Guatemala uses the following definition: 
<blockquote>"The Ladino population has been characterized as a heterogeneous population which expresses itself in the Spanish language as a maternal language, which possesses specific cultural traits of Hispanic origin mixed with Indigenous cultural elements, and dresses in a style commonly considered as western."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.minedoc.gob.gt/administracion/dependencias/centrales/ccre/ccre_interculturalidad.htm |title=Reflexiones sobre el mestizaje y la identidad nacional en Centroamérica: de la colonia a las Républicas liberales |access-date=28 July 2008 |author=Ministerio de Educación (MINEDUC) |year=2008 |language=es }}{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref></blockquote>