Arriverderci

Casta

Casta (Spanish: [ˈkasta]) is a term meaning lineage or race in Spanish and Portuguese. The term has historically been used as a racial and social identifier for mixed-race offspring in the colonial Spanish Empire in the Americas. The Spanish crown created a basic legal division between Hispanic society (República de Españoles) and Indigenous peoples (República de Indios). In the Hispanic sector were Spaniards, "Indians", Black Africans, and mixed-race castas. Many scholars have examined whether there was a rigid, racially-based, social hierarchy in Spanish America Although a strict racial hierarchy is shown in 18th century "casta paintings," with fixed categories in rank order, created by Spanish American and Iberian painters, extensive archival research does… more »