MESTIZAJE IN PERU: ORIGIN, CHARACTERISTICS AND CONSEQUENCES - HISTORY - 2024

The miscegenation in Peru began after the arrival of the Spanish conquerors and their victory over the indigenous peoples who inhabited those lands. Soon, the Spanish, the vast majority of them men, began to have offspring with the native women, the first mestizos appearing.

Shortly after, miscegenation expanded with the arrival of black slaves brought from Africa to work in the mines and Peruvian lands. In addition to the direct descent between members of the three communities, the children of the mestizos were also related to each other, which produced the appearance of numerous types of mestizaje.

From the series The paintings of the mestizaje of Viceroy Amat - Source: http://ceres.mcu.es under the Creative Commons CC0 license

At first, mestizos were quite well regarded. However, over time, they began to suffer discrimination in all areas, from the political to the economic. This led to several armed uprisings led against the colonial authorities.

The final result of this miscegenation can be seen in the racial composition of current Peruvian society. In general, this is almost totally mixed. Among the positive aspects we can mention the cultural richness that the mixture of the customs of the three communities produced.

Origin

Mestizaje is defined as the biological, and also cultural, mixture between different ethnic groups. In Peru, as in the rest of America, the Spanish conquest caused the appearance of mestizos, descendants of European whites and indigenous people. Later, the African slaves brought by the conquerors also participated.

Indigenous population

Inca family tree

The Incas were the most important indigenous people in the Peruvian territories. His empire was very powerful, but it ended up being defeated by the Spanish. Along with this, there were other native peoples that were also affected by the arrival of the conquerors.

Arrival of the Spaniards

Most of the Spaniards who came to America were men. This caused that, most of the time by force, they soon began to have sexual encounters with indigenous women.

According to experts, the Spanish were very closed in their conception of religion, but they did not have too many racial prejudices. The Spanish authorities tried to encourage the arrival of European women to the colonies, but their numbers were quite small.

At first, there were quite a few unions between conquerors and upper-class native women, even princesses. It was also common for indigenous kings to offer women as gifts when they sealed agreements with newcomers.

Africans

Illness and mistreatment caused a significant decline in the indigenous population. The colonizers then found themselves with a lack of labor that they remedied by the arrival of black African slaves.

In Peru, this human trafficking was concentrated in the coastal valleys, without affecting the mountains too much. The result was the appearance of the zambos, children of Indians and blacks, and of mulattos, descendants of blacks and whites.

Chinese - Coolies

A peculiarity of miscegenation in Peru is that it included Asians from China. As of 1850, almost 4,000 people from that continent arrived in the country, of which 2,500 were Chinese.

characteristics

The society of the Viceroyalty of Peru established a hierarchy based on the origins of its inhabitants. The peninsular Spaniards held the main positions in all fields, both political, economic or religious.

On the other hand, mestizos, indigenous people and blacks were relegated, with hardly any rights and subject to the payment of taxes, the mita or the levies.

Change in the consideration of mestizos

The first generations of mestizos were well regarded socially. Many of them came from the elites, being the children of prominent conquerors and princesses or upper-class women among the natives.

However, when the number of mestizos began to grow, the authorities of the colony established laws that prevented them from ascending socially and occupying positions of power. This situation worsened in the seventeenth century, when the criollos (children of Spaniards born in the colony) began their own struggle to reach important positions.

Faced with the creoles, the mestizos were marginalized, which led to armed uprisings, although they did not serve to change the trend.

To all of the above, we must add the growing diversity of the degrees of miscegenation, as well as the difficulty of establishing who was mestizo and who was not. In the 18th century, the authorities solved the latter by elaborating a classification of the existing mestizo castes.

Castes

As has been pointed out, when the types of miscegenation grew, the denominations did so accordingly. Some experts point out that there were at least 82 terms and 240 meanings related to mestizos. The best known names were the following:

- Mestizos: a mixture of indigenous and European.

- Morisco: a mixture of mulatto and European.

- Cholo: son of a mestizo and indigenous.

- Mulattoes: a mixture of African and European.

- Zambo: mixture of African with indigenous.

- Castizo: mixture of mestizo with European.

Cultural miscegenation

Biological miscegenation was also accompanied by the mixture of each culture that lived together in Peru. As in the previous one, it was not a peer-to-peer fusion, but the Spanish imposed a large part of their culture. Indigenous people and blacks could only resist and contribute small features.

In this way, the dominant language became Spanish. The same happened with religion, since the colonizers imposed Christianity on indigenous beliefs. This caused a process of acculturation, with the disappearance of a multitude of cultural traits of non-Spaniards.

Consequences

The tondero, one of the typical Peruvian coast dances

The current Peruvian society is heir to the process of miscegenation suffered after the conquest. Its ethnic component, however, has undergone variations during its history. Thus, in 1876, 57.9% of the population was Amerindian, while in 1940 the number had decreased to only 46%.

Since that last year, no study has been carried out in the country on the ethnic composition of the inhabitants, although international sources indicate that the main groups that make up their society are mestizos, Amerindians, whites and to a lesser extent blacks and Asians.

The Peruvian Institute of Public Opinion recently conducted a survey asking what ethnicity each participant considered themselves to be, according to their ancestors and beliefs. Their results showed 56% of the Peruvian population that considered themselves mestizo, 29% Quechua and 7% white.

Cultural mix

Experts agree that Peru, from a cultural point of view, is today a totally mestizo society. This characteristic, however, presents differences depending on the area of ​​the country.

Thus, on the coast and in the big cities, western culture prevails, while in the mountains, Andean customs prevail. Finally, in the jungle there are some ethnic groups and communities that try to preserve their way of life.

Inequality

Inequality based on ethnicity continues to exist in Peru today. The origin factor, which occurred since the beginning of the miscegenation process, continues to be very important to explain the discrimination suffered by some social layers.

A historical example occurred in 1821, when independence was declared. The language chosen as official was Spanish, despite the fact that only 10% of the population spoke it. This circumstance, in itself, prevented access to education and important positions for large sectors of Peruvian society.

References

1. Peruvian News Agency. The Peruvian mestizo has 60% of indigenous genes, reveals study, Obtained from andina.pe
2. Rodríguez García, Huáscar. The origins of the Andean miscegenation. Obtained from eldiariointernacional.com
3. Ares Queija, Berta. Mestizos, mulattos and zambaigos (Viceroyalty of Peru, 16th century). Recovered from core.ac.uk
4. Quiles, Carlos. Inca and Spanish Empires had a profound impact on Peruvian demography. Retrieved from indo-european.eu
5. de la Cadena, Marisol. Indigenous Mestizos: The Politics of Race and Culture in Cuzco, Peru, 1919-1991. Recovered from books.google.es
6. Cultural atlas. Peruvian Culture. Obtained from culturalatlas.sbs.com.au
7. Nations Encyclopedia. Peru - Ethnic groups. Retrieved from nationsencyclopedia.com