SOCIAL HIERARCHY

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Migrants born in Europe were called peninsulares stood at top of hierarchy
• Criollos were people born in the Americas of Iberian parents
• Mestizos lived on fringes of society and any conquered peoples stood at very bottom
• Mestizos population grew after a while and became essential to their societies
• Mulattoes, Zambos, and other people of mixed parents became prominent groups in Brazilian society

NORTH AMERICAN SOCIETIES

• Social structures of French and English were much different than Iberian colonies
• Women were more numerous and settlers married people of their own groups
• French fur traders associated with native women and made métis in regions around trading posts
• Relations between French and native people were uncommon in French colonial cities

NORTH AMERIcAN SOCIETIES CONTINUED

• Mingling with different ancestry was least common in the English colonies of North America
• Most colonists thought the native people were lazy and did not work at all
• Attitudes of the English settlers fueled racism, as English settlers attempted to isolate themselves from natives
• English did still interact with natives by borrowing useful cultural elements