Question Home

Position:Home>Arts & Humanities> About Mexicans hertiage?


Question:

About Mexicans hertiage?

my bf who is half mex.. told me mexicans started out as half indian and half spanish.. i was wondering if any knew anything about this .. and how i could look it up.. i just thought it was intersesting


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Your boyfriend is right. Mexicans are primarily "mestizos." You can learn what mestizo means at this site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mestizo...

But their ancestry is not exactly half Indian and half Spanish - the percentage can vary depending on the family. There are Mexicans today who are 100% indigenous - meaning their ancestors are 100% natives of Mexico, and they do not have any European blood. (There were many Indian groups in Mexico, so the blood lines in families may not even be from the same Indian group.) Since some European families restricted marriages with Indians, there can surely be some Mexicans whose ancestry is primarily European (Spanish, French, etc.), and not half and half.

In my experience, most Mexican families do not know the exact percentages of their ancestry. In the US, our family histories on the American continent go back at the most barely more than 200 years. For many of us it's less than 50-100 years. But in Mexico, many families have roots back 400-500 years, so they can no longer trace it back.

The mestizo aspect of Mexican culture is a well-known concept. Perhaps less known is the fact that the origin of indigenous peoples in Mexico (Aztecs, Mayans, as well as other groups) was from Asia. They migrated across the Bering Straits. So Mexican Indians, and therefore Mexican mestizos, have a common ancestry with Asians. This is why some Mexicans may look Filpino or even Polynesian.

Most importantly, being of mestizo background is NOT identified by physical characteristics. This is why many Mexicans are dark complected with brown or black eyes (the stereotype in American opinion), and many are fair complected with blue or green eyes.