Where do hispanics get their dark skin, hair, and brown eyes from? Was there a lot of cross breeding going on between the Spanish explorers and the Native Americans as opposed to the English and French explorers? I find it odd that the majority of the population in North America is considered caucasion but the majority of the populations of Central and South America are of hispanic race. Was there more Native American Indians in South and Central American at the time of the discovery of the New World or was the Native American population equally divided throughout the continents and the Spanish colonists just “got along” better with the native populations?
The Spanish explorers spent quite a bit of time during the 16th and 17th centuries “mingling” with the Aztecs in Mexico and the Native Americans further north as well. However, you should know that not all hispanic people have dark hair and dark skin. A good sized chunk of the hispanic population in New Mexico, Colorado etc. still possess the light eyed, light haired features of their Spanish ancestors.
“Hispanic” is not a race, it is a cultural label. There are many white Hispanics in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and other countries. Thse people are not usually what most Americans have in mind when they speak of “Hispanics” though. But even in Mexico, there are many white skinned people, especially in the larger cities.
For instance, all of these people are Mexicans.
Former Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda
PAN Party Leader Luis Felipe Bravo Mena
Alejandro Gertz, Secritary of Internal Security
…I could post 50 or 100 such people - I suppose one could argue that these are all rather “elite” types and don’t typify Mexicans. but there are some rather ordinary working class Mexicans that aren’t that much darker. My mother’s family is from New Mexico and traces her ancestry to the Spanish settlers. Her sisters are either blond or red haired, and only her brother has features that most people would call “Hispanic” in the Southwest.
So far, it must seem as if I am “Whitewashing” the Mexican Hispanic population, but obviously the majority of both Mexicans and Mexican-Americans are not of mostly Caucasoid descent. The Spaniards were actually rather detailed in their census records, and the process by which the current Mexican population emerged is well documented.
http://www.hist.umn.edu/~rmccaa/mxpoprev/cambridg3.htm
“Indians always made up the overwhelming majority of the population of colonial Mexico, and people of solely African or European origin were always only minor fractions. The second largest group by the end of the sixteenth-century was the “Euromestizos,” that is, Spanish-speakers of mixed Indian and European stock. Within a century of conquest Indo-mestizos (mixed stock Indian speakers) and Afro-mestizos (Spanish-speaking mixed groups with an African component) also made up a sizeable fraction of the population.”
Some other points…
At no point in Mexican History did Spanairds make up more than 10 to 15% of Mexico’s population. Also, white men heavily outnumbered white women, resulting in relations with Indian or women.So the Mexican mestizo is predominantly Indian in origin on the average.
The African contribution to Mexico has been long ignored. African slaves often outnumbered Spaniards. Most Mexicans probably have some black ancestry.
Each Latin American nation, and each region of Mexico had a different experience. Some areas have a larger Caucasian element (Costa Rica, the Mexican State of Jalisco), others have a greater Indian element (Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guatemala), and others have strong African strains (any place touching either the Caribbean or Northern Pacific).
Correct, it’s really only the Hispanic peasants, or campesinos, who have the darker skin due to the fact that they are more Indian and have less Spanish in them.
As has been pointed out, “hispanics” is not really very accurate. That being said, Spain was occupied by the moors for over 800 years, which leads some even “pure-bred” spaniards to have dark hair, eyes, and olive skin.
And yes, I know you were probably talking about “indian” looking “hispanics”.
Beyond that, of course, is the fact that Spain, itself, was probably dominated by dark haired, brown-eyed people long before the Moors invaded. Few Mediterranean peoples are disposed to blonde hair or blue eyes. There was probably a mild influx of lighter coloring when the Vandals or Visigoths wandered through the region (just as Greece picked up some lighter haired folks when the Vikings (or the Rus) were supplying the Varangian Guards and lots of trade delegations). There were red-headed Celts in Northern Spain, but the general population has probably never had a high percentage of blue-eyed devils.
I prefer tomndebb’s explanation far more than Dennis Hopper’s assertions on a related subject.
And the fact that many “peasants” spend a lot of time out working in the sun.
Spain has several ethnic groups, and while any physical description of one or another is bound to be broad, there are:
Andalusians. Southern Spanairds with decidedly “Moorish” traits in many cases. Like Antonio Banderas of Malaga, or Felipe Gonzalez of Seville. I also believe Andalucians the bulk of the Spanish colonists in much of Latin America.
http://www.wesleyan.edu/romance/intl_studies/fgonzalez.jpg
http://www.suite101.com/files/mysites/Pigtail/Antonio%20Banderas.jpg
Gallicians. Spaniards from the Northwest with some Celtic ancestry.
http://www.elcorreogallego.es/periodico/galegos01/
The man chosen as Galician of the Year resembles Scottie from Star Trek. And while few are actually red haired, none of these folks would look too out of place in Dublin or Cork.
Catalans. Northeasterners with a strong affinity to the French and northern Italians.
http://www-jime.open.ac.uk/98/12/demos/portrait.gif
Joan Miro
http://www.sztuka-architektury.pl/files/2gaudi.jpg
Antonio Gaudi
http://www.photolife.com.hk/9_page/other_jpg/034-02586-EGU%20Salvador%20Dali%20Artist.JPG
Salvador Dali
And then there are Basques…who often don’t consider themselves to be “Spanish”.
http://www.eltirachinasasturiano.com/img/vascos.jpg
Castillian. Central Spaniards, the historically dominant group. Essentially a mixture of the other types.
P.M. Jose Aznar
Javier Solana
Some Spaniards and Hispanics seem to have some serious Visigoth or other Germanic genes still floating around.
Miguel Primo de Rivera (who is the major is Jerez, and grandson of the dictator Primo de RIvera).
Santos Benavides, a Confedate officer from Texas in the Civil War.
http://www.rice.edu/armadillo/Past/Book/Part2/56a.gif
A distant relative of Benavides who ran for governor of Texas a while back, Tony Sanchez…
http://www.naaonline.org/images/Tony%20Sanchez.jpg
Anyway, my point is, Spaniards are fairly diverse themselves, and when you factor in other ethnic groups, “Hispanic” can include just about any physical type…and I haven’t even bothered with pics of Alberto Fujimori type “Hispanics”.
Don’t forget also that in certain countries where the indigenous population was decimated quickly (the Caribbean), mixing of Spaniards or other European groups with African slaves was high. This also contributes to the variety in skin color among people of Latin America.
Also, Andalucians, which made a large chunk of the Spanish immigrants in many countries, were the Spanish group that spent most years under Arab (and Jewish, too) influence.
One possible reason more “mingling” occurred was the different ways of conquering that each country had. England had more commercial enterprices, and formed settlements with women and families quicker than Spain, who used more soldiers. Women were scarce in many settlements, to the point in which some people put ads and spread the voice to attract more Spanish females to the New World.
But even then you can get throw-backs like me----small, dark and sturdy Mom, tall, dark and heavy-featured Dad produced tall, fair, curly-haired me. French and Spanish soldiers, I reckon.