Racism in Colonial Mexico 

            The Mexican colonial experience was largely characterized by racism. Under the rule of Spain, the native Mexicans were treated very poorly. There were many Spaniards that traveled to Mexico, and even lived there. They were very racist towards the Mexicans, and treated them, almost like slaves. There was no government in Mexico, they were under the rule of Spain, and had to follow the Spanish laws and regulations. The main religion in Spain was Roman Catholic, and the Spaniards forced the Mexicans, to also follow that religion, even though they didn’t want to. They much preferred the Greek Orthodox religion, but the Spanish didn’t allow them, even after the Independence, they still had to follow Roman Catholic. The economy was also very limited in Mexico as well. The Spaniards were well aware that there were very well made products in Mexico, so in order to fight off competition, they banned the production of certain types of agriculture in Mexico. This severely stunned the economy in Mexico.²

There was also a caste system in place in Mexico that heavily favored the Spaniards. At the top of the caste would be the Spaniards themselves. Because of the enormous wealth in Mexico, compared to other Spanish colonies, many Spaniards were attracted to Mexico, and went there to trade, or even live there.³ With the large amount of Spaniards living in Mexico, they treated the native Mexicans as a minority, and even like slaves. Under the Spaniards were the Creoles. This group actually consisted of many castes.⁴ At the top of the Creole list was the Nouveau Riche. These were the people that had accumulated a very large fortune though some way or the other. These people usually were one generation away from Spanish immigrants, meaning that their parents were born in Spain, but they immigrated to Mexico, and gave birth to their baby, who would be considered a Nouveau Riche. Just under them would be the Cabildo. They were direct dependents of the conquistadors. They lived solely off the riches of their ancestors. They did not work at all, and had a very elegant and good life. After them is the Petite Bourgeoisie. They were the shop keepers, businessmen, school administrators, small-land owners, and pretty much and well-paying job there is. They were also government employees. These were strait decedents of the Aztecs, who had done good in their lives. At the bottom of the Pyramid were the Artisans, they did all the dirty work, and were the lowest class. Some of them did have government jobs, but those were still pretty low, like janitor or night watchmen. They were also direct decedents of Aztecs, but they were in the worse half of the group. Based on this caste system, the longer you had lived in Mexico, the less privileges you have, and the lower on the caste system you would be. This system was very unfair to the Native Mexicans, who had very little rights at all.