Majority Populations in Spanish America: Mestizos and Amerindians

Throughout the colonial and early national periods of Spanish America, the demographic landscape was defined by two groups that together constituted the vast majority of the population:

1. Mestizos (Mixed European & Indigenous Ancestry): The product of centuries of mixing between Spanish colonists (mostly men) and Indigenous women. By the late 18th century, they were the largest single group in many regions (Mexico, Central America, Andean zones). They occupied a middle social tier—above Indigenous people but below Peninsulares and Criollos.
2. Amerindians (Indigenous Peoples): Despite catastrophic demographic collapse (up to 90% decline post-contact due to disease, war, exploitation), they remained the numerical majority in core highland areas (Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador) and a significant plurality overall. They formed the labor base (encomienda, mita, hacienda).

Minority Groups

• Peninsulares: Spanish-born elites (tiny %).
• Criollos: American-born whites (10–15% typically).
• Africans & Afro-descendants (Mulattos, Zambos, free Blacks): Concentrated in Caribbean, coastal Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Río de la Plata. Significant but regionally variable.

The casta system attempted to categorize every permutation, but the demographic reality was a Mestizo-Indigenous continuum dominating the numbers.