Criollos and the caste system

The caste system was New Spain’s social classification by ancestry. Peninsulares were Spaniards born in Spain; criollos were the children of Spaniards born in New Spain; mestizos were people of Spanish and Indigenous descent; and there were many other categories, called castas, for mixed Indigenous and African ancestry.

A person’s caste shaped the offices, taxes and social standing open to them. Criollos could be wealthy and educated, but the top posts in government and the Church were almost always reserved for peninsulares. That resentment helped drive the criollo conspiracies that led to the War of Independence in 1810.