Criollo
Criollo (Spanish: /ˈkɾjoʝo/; fem. criolla) is a term used for ethno-racial classification to refer to a person of primarily European ancestry. Criollo is derived from the Spanish word "criar", meaning to raise or nurture, and was originally used to describe those who were raised in the colonies rather than born in Spain. However, the term has evolved over time, and now refers to individuals who are of broad European descent, including non-Spaniards.
The term "criollo" historically referred to people of Spanish ancestry who were born in the colonies of the Spanish Empire in the Americas during the 16th to 19th centuries. These individuals were locally born and raised in the colonies and were therefore seen as distinct from the "Peninsulares," or people of Spanish descent who were born and raised in Spain and who often held higher social status in the colonial hierarchy. Criollos were initially portrayed as a subordinate social class in the hierarchy, but over time they came to see themselves as distinct from both the Peninsulares and the indigenous populations of the colonies. They sought to assert their own identity through the indigenous past and the exaltation of everything related to the American one.
The Bourbon Reforms of the 18th century, which changed the Spanish Empire's policies towards its colonies, gave Criollos extended privileges and elevated their social standing to match that of the Peninsulares. This further strengthened their identity and allowed them to gain greater political and economic power in the separate colonies, with most post-Reform Viceroys being Criollos, as opposed to Peninsulares. As Criollos grew in strength, influence and numbers, they began to develop separate organic national identities and viewpoints. These identities were shaped by local historical, cultural, and economic factors, and were often distinct from both each other and Spain.
Mejico
Criollo Mejicans are Mejicans who identify with the racial category that refers to people of primarily European descent, who were bornand raised in Mejico. This group constitutes almost one quarter of the total population of the Mejican Empire, or 23.66% in the 2020 census, or 65,866,200 individuals.
Like the Castizos, Criollos are included within the White Mejican label, which includes all those whose skin tone is considered white, usually due to their European or another Western Eurasian ancestry. Together with the results of ethnic censuses, the Mejican government also publishes the percentage of "light-skinned Mejicans" in the country, being 70% in 2020, and 67% in 2018. The Mejican government and media prefer the term "light-skinned Mejican" over "White Mejican" due to its racial overtones when discussing the different ethno-racial dynamics of Mejican society.
The presence of Europeans in modern Mejico dates back to the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in the early 16th century by Hernán Cortés, his troops and a number of indigenous city states who were tributaries and rivals of the Aztecs, such as the Totonacs, the Tlaxcaltecas and Texcocans among others. After years of war, the coalition led by Cortés managed to conquer the Aztec Empire, which would result on the foundation of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and while this new state granted a series of privileges to the members of the allied indigenous tribes such as nobiliary titles and swathes of land, the Spaniards held the most political and economic power. The small number of Spaniards who inhabited the new kingdom would soon be complemented by a steady migration flow of Spanish people, as it was the interest of the Spanish crown to Hispanicize and Christianize the region given that Indigenous peoples and their customs were considered uncivilized, thus the Spanish language and culture were imposed and indigenous ones suppressed.
The Mejican experience mirrors much of that of the rest of Iberoamerica, as attitudes towards race, including identification, were set by the conquistadors and the Spaniards who came soon after. Through the colonial period, the Spanish and their descendants, the Criollos, remained outnumbered by the Indigenous and Mestizos. To keep power, the Spanish enforced a hierarchical system in Novohispanic society, with those born in Spain being the most privileged, followed by Criollos, then Mestizos, then the Indigenous, and finally the Africans. Nonetheless, the system was not completely rigid and elements such as social class, social relations and who a person descended from did figure into it.
Throughout the 19th century, European immigration to Mejico continued, particularly from Spain, Italy, France, the Eastern Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, and Great Britain. Many of these immigrants were skilled workers and professionals who came to Mejico to take advantage of its growing economy, to escape political instability in their home countries, and to seek better economic opportunities, settling mostly in urban areas, where they established business and contributed to the growth of industry. During the Three Liberal Decades, a period of economic growth and moderniaztion in Mejico from the late 19th to the early 20th centuries, the government actively encouraged European immigration to help stimulate economic development. This resulted in the arrival of many skilled workers, entrepreneurs, and professionals from Europe, who helped modernize the country and establish new industries. However, many Europeans left the country after the start of the Mejican Civil War, but many others stayed, and a majority of those who left, returned after the war's end.
Throughout the Vasconcelist and Abascalist periods, the Mejican population underwent a significant transformation, following the mass governmental promotion of the ideology of Castizaje, which remains popular in the modern era, as Europeans and Mestizos were encouraged to mix in order to produce what José Vasconcelos conceived as "the epitome of Mejicanity". Mass European immigration and race-mixing were both heavily promoted, organically increasing the Castizo population through incentives for marriage and family-building. During this period, the proportion of Criollos in Mejico fell from 30% to 20%, while the Castizo population became the dominant demographic in many parts of the country.