Zorro's times: classes and races in el Nuevo Mundo

Spain's New World was diverse, but not "multicultural"

Working to understand more about the real-life times of the fictional Zorro, I found myself needing to learn about some previously-obscure issues. Like the ones in this post.

A critical concept in Spain was limpieza, literally cleanliness, but which also meant "racial purity". More specifically, it meant descent from Christian Spaniards, i.e., without Jewish or Muslim ancestors.

In the Nuevo Mundo (New World) colonies in Zorro's day (early 19th century), there was an elaborate system of racial categories which also translated to a large degree into class position and social/political power.

Carlos Fuentes describes the following categories, in Spain's New World empire. He estimates about 18 million inhabitants around 1810 who he classifies as follows:

Caucasians; 4 million. This included "limpieza" Spaniards born in Spain, who were known as peninsulares or gachupins. This group also included "limpieza" Spaniards born in the colonies, called criollos (Creoles). Peninsulares had a more privileged and powerful position than criollos. The colonial independence movements were largely led by the criollo elite.

Indígenas, or indios (indigenous Indians); 8 million, and, negros (blacks); 1 million. Blacks and indígenas were the poorest, least powerful and most exploited groups. Some blacks were slaves.

The remaining 5 million were composed of a variety of distinct groups, defined by their parents' race, of which Fuentes gives the following: mestizos (white and Indian); mulato (white and black), a derisive term; tercerón (mulato and white); cuarterón (tercerón and white) tenteneaire (tercerón and mulato); and, saltapatrás (cuarterón and black).

The criollos in Mexico and Central America also referred to the lower classes more generally as "léperos".

Isabel Allende in her Zorro novel gives quite a bit of emphasis to the role of these racially-defined social categories. I'm not sure at what point in the literary development of the Diego/Zorro character that he bacame a mestizo. In Johston McCulley's original story The Curse of Capistrano/The Mark of Zorro (1919), Diego was a criollo.

Allende definitely made much of Diego's indígena heritage from his mother Toypurnia/Regina. She also makes his relationship with the indígena Bernardo one of a lifelong, sibling-type relationship: "hermaos de leche" (like brothers from birth). She has Diego and Bernardo learn about the network of tunnels in their area, which Zorro later used to navigate his way around secretly. In her version, he takes the name Zorro from his meeting his totem animal, a fox (zorro), during a rite-of-passage indígena vision quest.

The 2007 telenovela, Zorro: la espada y la rosa, reatins Diego's mestizo status and uses the same background with Toypurnia as his mother.

The various racial divisions played a big role in the telenovela, as in El Gobernador Fernando's tortured relationship with the indios. They also add the various complications with the gitanos (Gypsies, Romany).

The various geogrpahical/administrative division of Spain's New World Empire can be confusing. As of 1784, the divisions were the virreinatos (vicroyalties), each ruled by a virrey (viceroy). They lay roughly as follows in present-day terms.

Virreinato de Nueva España: Mexico, Texas, California and much of present-day southwest and western United States; sparsely populated territories of Lousiana and Florida were also administratively part of Nueva España.

Virreinato de Nueva Grenada: Central America, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador

Virreinato de Perú: Peru, part of Brazil

Virreinato de Buenos Aires (aka, Virreinato del Río de la Plata): Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay

The Virreinato de Brasil, generally corresponding to present-day Brazil, was ruled by Portugal.

Sources:

T.R. Fehrenbach, Fire and Blood: A History of Mexico (1973)

Carlos Fuentes, El Espejo Enterrado (1992).