The Evolution of Racial Hierarchy in Latin America

When the Spanish began to colonize the Americas there was a clear distinction between the natives whom they encountered and their own society. Though the Spanish attempted to maintain two wholly separate worlds, it soon became apparent that this would be near impossible. Miscegenation had spawned a plethora of new ethnicities, and racial mixing was prevalent throughout the colonies. As this intermingling of races spread, the Spanish elites were faced with the ensuing problem of maintaining their supposed superiority. In the centuries leading to their independence from Spain, the creole elites fought for their precarious hierarchy, which became progressively more difficult as time passed. Following their break from the crown, Latin America was involved in a flurry of civil disputes. Even after the creation of Republics throughout the land, many maintained that despite political participation by the mixed classes, they would never be socially equal to the elites. In spite of an ever changing social mobility and political backdrop, the elite distinction created by the original ideas of racial hierarchy continued into modern decades as a vital part of the culture.