Peninsulares – The highest level of the racial hierarchy in Philippines is composed by Peninsulares class. These were the person of pure Spanish descent born in Spain. These people possessed maximum command and influence over the Philippine.
Americano – Persons of pure Spanish descent living in the Philippines who were born in Spanish America were classified as ‘Americano’. This was the second highest level of the hierarchy.
Filipino / Insulares – The next rank in the Philippines racial hierarchy is the Filipino. Basically, the Philippine-born children of ‘Americano’ were classified as ‘Filipinos’.
Tornatras – These were the persons of mixed indigenous Spanish ancestry (referred to as Filipino or Peninsular), Chinese (referred to as Sangley), and Malay (referred to as Indio). Most people of the Tornatras caste in the Philippines used Spanish as their primary language and in many cases converted to the Catholic faith.
Mestizos de Espanola – The next in the hierarchy is the class Mestizos de Espanola, subordinate to the Tornatras. This term was used to describe people of mixed Filipino and foreign ancestry.
Sangley – This is a level used in hierarchy to demonstrate the persons of pure Chinese ancestry, while Mestizos de Sangley was used to refer to a person of mixed Chinese and indigenous ancestry
Indio – Indio was the term that was used to refer the native Malays, but if we consider the legal classification, this term was only used to refer the Christianized Malays who lived in closeness to the Spanish colonies. This was the second lowest rank in the hierarchy.
Negrito – The lowest level in the Philippines racial hierarchy was of the Negritos. This group represented the black Negro people who possessed minimal or zero rights and worked as labors in the Spanish colonial system.
Americanos were Criollos/Creoles ( Spaniards born in America ).
The highest social group in the Latin America social hierarchy was of Peninsulares. These were people who were born in Spain not in Latin America. They were considered of true blood. This social class was also termed as Spaniards. These people enjoyed top most power, rights, authority and economic favors in the society. Entire political powers were also under their administration. They controlled the entire government along with economic affairs of the society.
Creoles
The people who were born in Latin America but their parents were Peninsulares formulated this next social class of the Latin America social hierarchy. In simple words, though they were not born in Spain but they belonged to Spanish ancestry. The Creoles people were provided with the majority of the local land ownership. They also enjoyed nobility over other social classes of the Latin America.
Mulattoes / Mestizos
This social class incorporated people who were of mixed ancestry. In simple words, when a Creoles married a lower class person the babies they had by their join fell in the category of Mestizos. They were normally termed as Mulattoes.
Indio
This expression in the Latin America social hierarchy was also termed as the Indigenous class. These people were basically inhabitants of Mesoamerica. This social class was subordinate to Mestizos class. These people were provided few rights along with some authorities in the society.
Negro
The second lowest social class in the Latin America social hierarchy was of Negros. These were the people from black ancestry or having black skin appearance. They were basically African slave descendent.
Slaves
These people were not freed people. They were slaved labors for the higher social classes. These poor people were provided with zero rights of their own. They led a very despondent miserable life.
Native American Indians would be classified as Indio.
According to this article Americanos were distinct enough that they often had rivalries with pure Spaniards and supported revolts in the Philippines.
On the night of June 1, 1823, Novales, along with a certain sub-lieutenant Ruiz and other subordinates in the King's Regiment, as well as discontented former Latino officers "americanos", composed mostly of Mexicans with a sprinkling of Creoles and mestizos from the now independent nations of Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Costa Rica,[3] went out to start a revolt.
Americanos in article were referring to Spaniards born in Americas that were shipped to Philippines. Novales felt sympathy towards them when the Peninsulars(Spaniards born in Spain) arrived to Philippines to replace the Americanos(Creoles/Criollos). The revolt composed of Americanos, Mestizos and Filipinos(Indios).
Letter from Fajardo to Felipe III From Manila, August 15 1620.(From the Spanish Archives of the Indies) ("The infantry does not amount to two hundred men, in three companies. If these men were that number, and Spaniards, it would not be so bad; but, although I have not seen them, because they have not yet arrived here, I am told that they are, as at other times, for the most part boys, indians, mestizos and mulattoes, There is no little cause for regret in the great sums that reënforcements of such men waste for, and cost, your Majesty. I cannot see what betterment there will be until your Majesty shall provide it, since I do not think, that more can be done in Nueva Spaña, although the viceroy must be endeavoring to do so, as he is ordered.")
So sorry, I can't find any of your replies. I tried to reply but it won't go through. & so sorry for the late reply & not even really replying still. Hays.
@prau123 Uuuuuuyyyyy, di ko talaga s'ya mahanap! Pasensya na! 'Di ako nagbibiro. 🙁
Ewan ko ba 'bat ang hirap maghanap dito. Nung una, napupunta ako mismo sa post mo, pero pagkatapos aakyat na lang s'ya basta basta at ayon, di ko na s'ya mahanap! 🙁
He first suggest that if these men were that number, and Spaniards, it would not be so bad. In other words, he preferred them to be Spaniards whether they were Peninsulars, Americanos(Creoles/Criollos), Insulares.
Then he says, he hasn't seen them because they have not arrive, but he was told that they are, as other time, for the most part boys, Indians, Mestizos and Mulattoes.
Exactly, colonial authorities expected pure European immigrants at least by descent not necessarily of place of birth as soldiers and settlers, instead, most of the time, the Philippines instead received Native Americans, Mulattoes and Mestizos.
Fajardo ideally preferred pure Spaniards regardless if they were Peninsulars, Americanos(Creoles, Criollos), Insulares and these were men with veteran fighting experience and not boys with limited experience. Unfortunately he wasn't able to get what he wanted. Instead Fajardo got a younger group of fighters that were claimed to be boys with mixed ancestry and Indios. He may not prefer them but he'll take what he could get. He doesn't consider them as Americanos also, instead they were actually described as Indians, Mestizos, Mulattoes whom are from mainly Mexico and Latin American countries.
An article below says Chamorro-Spanish Mestizos in Micronesia could refer to themselves as Insulares(Espanol Insular) even though Insulares is described as a pure Spaniard born on an Island such as Philippines and Guam.
Two terms were used to differentiate the origin of the Spaniards residing In the nineteenth century colonial Philippines. A Spaniard born in Spain was referred as a peninsular, meaning born in the Spanish peninsula. In contrast, a Spaniard born in the Philippines was referred as aninsular if in the Philippines, or a Filipino if in Spain. That difference had consequences in the colonial apparatus, clearly in favour of the peninsulares who enjoyed certain privileges and could be assigned to posts of higher responsibility.
Since the independence of the Americas in the first two decades of the nineteenth century, the Spanish government begun to distrust the insulares of her colonies, since they were the ones who, as a social class, commanded the independence processes. In the Philippines, independentist revolts such as the Noval uprising in the 1830s had insulares as protagonists.
The term insular can be found as a way of self-identification on the side of a particular person. In the Marianas, CHamoru-Spanish mestizos could refer to themselves in certain official documents as español insular, meaning “Spaniard born in the islands” or “son of the country.” In such cases, the term was probably used to reinforce their stand before the bureaucracy of the colonial government, which was always represented by peninsulares.
Why is that so? Insulares in Micronesia dont need to be pure Spaniard born in the colonies yet the same iant applicable to the Philippines which required a pure Spanish descent to be called an Insulares.
May be the small Spanish population in Micronesian Island played a role that included the Chamorro-Spanish Mestizos in the Insulares hierarchy category. Micronesian Islands indigenous population were also rather small and likely only a mere thousands pure Spaniards were necessary to stay behind in Micronesia unlike in Philippines. During Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade between 1565 to 1815, Micronesia was basically an island to pass by to load, reload and unload and then proceed to Philippines. Spaniards had a small settlement in Micronesia and therefore they had an inadequate amount of Insulares. Also, several of them interbred with Micronesians and their offsprings were considered Chamorro-Spanish Mestizos. In order to make up the lack of Insulares population, they decided to include Chamorro-Spanish Mestizos as Insulares.
Insulares was a term used to refer to Spaniards born in the Philippines or to Spanish-CHamoru mestizos born on Guam.
There are also, however, a number of official Spanish historic documents where the term mestizo appears to be used merely as a descriptive term for social matters, not as an ethnic category under the Spanish administrative apparatus.
Evolutionary acceptance
While initially the word mestizo denoted a person who was half-Spanish and half-CHamoru, it has evolved over the centuries. In its current use today on Guam, a mestisu or mestisa ( CHamoru variations of the Spanish word mestizo ) refers to any person of mixed ethnicity, but is usually associated with a person who is part-CHamoru and part-Caucasian.
References to person of such mixed heritage can be ethnic-specific, such as Mestisan CHamoru yan Tagalu (female CHamoru and Filipino), Mestison CHamoru yan Korean (male CHamoru and Korean) or Mestison CHamoru yan Amerikanu (male CHamoru and Caucasian), etc.
Insulares was the specific term given to criollos (full-blooded Spaniards born in the colonies) born in the Philippines or the Marianas. Insulares were part of the second highest racial class in Spanish hierarchy below the peninsulares, or full-blooded Spaniards born in Europe. They ranked above mestizos(a person of mixed Chamorro and Spanish parentage), native Filipinos, and Indios (native Chamorros of the Mariana Islands).
Though insulares were high in the racial caste system, the fact that they were born in the Philippines or the Marianas gave the term a negative connotation during the Spanish Era. The colonies were considered by peninsulares to be a “dumping ground for misfits and dregs of society” and to be born in such a place lowered their racial status.
According to Filipino scholar Dr. Domingo Abella, repeated intermarriage with the Filipinos or Chamorros, however resulted in indianization, rather than hispanization in both a physical as well as legal sense. As Spanish blood disappeared, so did all the privileges that came with it. Those who had any trace of indio blood, however, could never become the social equals of the pure-bloods. The pure-bloods always regarded the Spanish mestizos, along with the Chinese mestizos, as insulares.
Insulares was also used as a form of self-identification:
The term insular can be found as a way of self-identification on the side of a particular person. In the Marianas, Chamorro-Spanish mestizos could refer to themselves in certain official documents as Español Insular, meaning “Spaniard born in the islands” or “son of the country.”
In the Mariana Islands, for administrative purposes, the Spanish racial hierarchy was as follows:
Peninsulares (Spaniards born in Spain),
Criolos or Insulars (Spaniards born in the Marianas or the Philippines),
Mestizos (persons of both Chamorro and Spanish descent),
Filipinos (persons native to the Philippine Islands),and;
Historically, Filipinos have been settling on Guam from Spanish colonization in the 17th century. Besides exiling Filipinos rebels, Spain brought Filipino soldiers and missionaries to the island. Today, Filipinos in the medical, educational, and religious fields, continue to serve the island’s needs. Since historically many Filipinos who came to Guam decided to stay and settle on island, many Chamorros can claim to have a Filipino ancestor or relative.
Today, Filipinos make up more than 25% of the population of Guam.
The Filipino – Guam population data represent DNA samples from 99 unrelated volunteer Filipino donors who were from Guam, and who reported that both parents were of the same descent.
Good article.
Filipinos have been settling on Guam several centuries prior to Spanish arrival because our seafaring ancestors traded with the Chamorro people in Micronesia and vice versa but back in those days our people did not call themselves Filipinos. Original indigenous people that arrived in Guam came from the Philippines around 2,000 BCE.
Filipinos were brought by Spaniards to Guam as early as 16th century possibly since Manila Acapulco Galleon Trade began in 1565.
