A person of mixed Spanish and Indigenous descent in colonial Latin America, or a peasant or rural laborer.
Spanish origin, possibly derived from indigenous languages of the Americas, referring to mixed-race or rural populations. The term was used in colonial caste systems to describe social status and ethnic background.
Colonial societies invented tons of new words to describe racial categories—gibaro is just one of dozens of terms like 'mulatto' or 'mestizo' that were used to classify people. These words actually reveal how obsessed colonial governments were with categorizing everyone!
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