A man or boy of Spanish and indigenous or African descent, born in Spanish America during the colonial period.
Spanish term from Portuguese crioulo, possibly connected to criar (to raise). It originally distinguished American-born colonists from Spanish-born peninsulares, becoming a crucial social category in colonial hierarchy.
Criollo is the linguistic backbone of creole identities across the Americas—it shows how language itself encoded social tension, since criollos were considered inferior to pure Spanish settlers despite their wealth and power, eventually leading them to lead independence movements.
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