Question

Porque el mestizaje y la evangelizacion fueron tan revelantes en la configuracion de la sociedad colonial?

Answer 1

Respuesta:

In the early days, illegitimacy and miscegenation became equivalent categories.1 2 3 However, the Spanish Crown wanted to put an end to this situation. Thus in 1503 the Catholic Monarchs sent an ordinance to Governor Ovando urging him to encourage mixed marriages in the hope of facilitating the evangelizing task. Later on, this principle was formalized with the Royal Decree of 1514 that confirmed the legality of mixed marriages and guaranteed that the children resulting from such marriages enjoyed the same legitimacy as those born from Castilian marriages. This miscegenation generated a caste system in the territories of the New World, 4 5 6 Not having pure Spanish blood (peninsular) was a sign of inferiority, and the more "Spanish blood" one had, the greater the individual's social hierarchy; even to gain access to higher education you had to take a "blood purity" test.

Explicación:

Se llama mestizaje al encuentro biológico y cultural de etnias diferentes, en el que estas se mezclan, dando nacimiento a nuevas etnias y nuevos fenotipos. El mestizaje en América se dio debido a la colonización española y portuguesa en este continente. En el caso español, la casi total ausencia de mujeres castellanas en las Américas causó problemas desde el principio, y determinó la tendencia a buscar parejas entre las mujeres locales.