A woman or girl of Spanish and indigenous or African descent, born in Spanish America during the colonial period.
From Spanish criolla, feminine form of criollo, derived from Portuguese crioulo, possibly from criar (to raise/breed). The term originally referred to people of European descent born in the colonies rather than Europe.
The word criolla captures a fascinating moment in history when colonial societies created entirely new identity categories—people who were European by descent but American by birth, which sparked both privilege and eventually revolutionary consciousness that shaped Latin America.
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