A term that refers to a person of mixed descent. The majority of Mexicans have mixed Indigenous and European ancestry, but in colonial times large numbers of Africans came to Mexico primarily as slaves, and even some Asians. Later, Caribbeans, North and South Americans, and Europeans immigrated to the country. During colonial times, the Spanish used a classification system of staggering complexity to create a hierarchy based on race. So-called “whites” of European ancestry were divided into Spanish born peninsulares, and Mexican born criollos, while a person of mixed European and African ancestry was mulato, Indian and European denoted mestizo, African and Indian, zambo, and so-forth. A wealthy person of any background could buy a title and thus socially “whiten” himself or herself. In late nineteenth and early twentieth century Mexican history, the ideal of mestizaje was promoted as reflecting the special character and unique qualities of Mexican identity based upon cultural and ethnic mixing and hybridity.