Casta

Casta (Spanish: [ˈkasta]) is a term which means "lineage" in Spanish and Portuguese and has historically been used as a racial and social identifier. In the context of the Spanish Empire in the Americas, many scholars have examined whether there was a rigid, racially-based "caste system" (sistema de castas), and as depicted in 18th century "casta paintings," showing fixed categories in rank order. With the encounter in the New World between European Spaniards, enslaved Africans (negros) forcibly brought by Spaniards, and indigenous people (indios), sexual unions produced offspring that colonial officials classified in newly created legal racial categories. Mixed-race categories that appeared in official Spanish documentation were mestizo, generally offspring of a Spanish man and an Indigenous woman; and mulatto, offspring of a Spanish man and an African woman. Many other terms are found casta paintings, for people with variously mixed Spanish, Indigenous, and African ancestry; however, except for official categories of mestizo and mulatto, the plethora of other terms are not known to have been widely used officially or unofficially in the Spanish Empire.