Mexican Ethnicity

Mexican ethnicity concerns the ethnic composition of the country of Mexico. It has been shaped hugely by the European colonization of Central America, which occurred between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries. Approximately 20% of the country’s nearly 130 million people are primarily of European extraction and specifically of Spanish heritage. Because Spain was extensively colonized in medieval times by Muslims from North Africa, there is also a second-hand North African ethnic footprint in Mexico today. There are also other European backgrounds involved in Mexican ethnicity today. Approximately 850,000 Mexicans, for instance, have Italian descent of some kind following extensive Italian migration to Mexico in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Upwards of 30% of the Mexican population are mestizo or mixed-blood, meaning they have both Spanish and indigenous heritage, while it is estimated that 50% or more of the population of Mexico today are people who are primarily descended from the indigenous, Amerindian people who lived here in pre-colonial times. This means Mexico is one of the countries in Latin America with the highest indigenous population as a percentage of the total population, topped only by Bolivia and perhaps Peru and Guatemala, though accurate assessments of ethnic backgrounds are difficult to produce.

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Mexican historyMexican history

A large ceramic statue of an Aztec eagle warrior

The Mexico region has been populated for approximately 13,000 years as Asiatic people first crossed the frozen Bering Straits to North America and then migrated southwards towards the more temperate region of Central America. Numerous sophisticated civilizations emerged here and in the region immediately south of Mexico around Guatemala and Honduras in pre-colonial times, notably the Olmecs and Mayans, who built great pyramids to rival and even eclipse those of ancient Egypt. From the thirteenth century onwards, the Aztecs emerged out of their great lake city of Tenochtitlan to dominate the Valley of Mexico and much of the region approximating to central and southern Mexico. They conquered many other Nahuatl-speaking people, built great temples and pyramids themselves, and were thriving just as the Spanish discovered the New World in 1492. Ultimately, once the Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortes, set off to conquer the Aztec Empire in 1519, it only took two years to accomplish the task, but this had more to do with the ravages caused by the introduction of European diseases such as measles and smallpox than anything to do with the superior military technology possessed by the small band of Spaniards commanded by Cortes. Tenochtitlan was conquered in 1521, and the Spanish began colonizing Central America in the years that followed.

Emperor Maximilian I, ruler of the Second Mexican Empire

The Spanish Viceroyalty of New Spain in what is now Mexico grew rapidly in the sixteenth century following the discovery of extensive silver seams in the region. Many Spaniards came from Europe to find their fortune here, many of them single men. Unlike the English in North America, the Spanish were not opposed to the idea of colonists intermarrying with native women and siring children. As a result, a mixed-blood or mestizo population came to dominate Mexico during the colonial era, and depending on which criteria one applies, somewhere between 40% and 95% of the Mexican population is of mixed Spanish and indigenous heritage.

Mexico remained under Spanish rule for three centuries. However, here, as elsewhere across the vast Spanish Empire in the Americas, the taking over of Spain itself by the French during the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) led to a war of independence breaking out in Mexico in 1810. This was caused by decades of disillusionment with Spanish rule amongst a colonial community who now viewed themselves as Mexicans rather than Spaniards. The Mexican War of Independence eventually resulted in an independent Mexico in 1821. The country’s history ever since has been one of instability and foreign interference. For instance, the Spanish-American War of 1846 to 1848 resulted in the loss of extensive territory to the United States, comprising the region around Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, while the French ruler Napoleon III interfered several times in Mexican affairs, leading to the French-dominated Second Mexican Empire in the 1850s and 1860s. American imperial influence followed in the twentieth century, but despite political instability and the ravages of narcoterrorism, Mexico is emerging in the early twenty-first century as a major power, predicted to have the world’s seventh-largest economy by 2050.

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Mexican cultureMexican culture

Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico

Mexican culture reflects its mixed heritage as both an Amerindian country and a European colony. A major influence has been the Roman Catholic Church and Catholic culture in general, with nearly 90% of the country’s population identifying as Catholics and nearly half of those attending church services weekly. Catholic religious festivals are consequently integral to life in Mexico, and Christmas, Easter, and Advent are major periods in Mexican life. The country is also the global center of the celebration of the Dia de Muertos, or Day of the Dead, in early November, when parades are held across the country, and altars are set up with offerings to the dead. In other spheres, Mexican culture is notable for its emphasis on folk art and handicrafts, while Mariachi music is synonymous with the country. Mexican cuisine is renowned for its blending of indigenous and Spanish influences, with dishes such as tacos, burritos, mole sauce, tamales, and enchiladas becoming internationally well-known and also impacting the cuisine of the Sunbelt states in America. More recently, Mexican cinema has enjoyed a golden age through the work of Mexican directors such as Guillermo del Toro, Alejandro González Iñárritu, and Alfonso Cuarón.

Mexican languagesMexican languages

Indigenous languages of Mexico as they are still spoken in the early twenty-first century

There is no official language in Mexico, but Spanish is the unofficial national tongue, one which is spoken by virtually everyone in the country as the language of government, business and culture. It has evolved to have its own unique features distinct from that spoken back in Iberia. Accordingly, Mexican Spanish has softer spoken vowels and more fully pronounced consonants, where these are more silent in Castilian or Peninsular Spanish. Beyond this, over 10% of Mexicans speak English as a second language, particularly so in the cities of the border region of the north and around Mexico City.

Beyond these, the Mexican government recognizes 68 different languages as being native, of which 63 are indigenous tongues. Of these, Nahutal and Maya are the most widely spoken, Nahuatl being the language that was spoken by the Aztecs and other native people of Central Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest. For instance, there are an estimated one and a half million native Nahuatl speakers in Mexico, with over two million Maya speakers, a figure which becomes even greater as one head south from Mexico and Guatemala and other Central American states. Thus, while Spanish and English predominate in Mexico, the languages of the indigenous people have survived to a remarkable extent.

See alsoSee also

• Mesoamerican and Andean ethnicity
• Iberian ethnicity
• Italian ethnicity

Explore more about Mexican ethnicityExplore more about Mexican ethnicity

• Top ethnicities in Mexico at MyHeritage
• Tracing Ancestors through Revolutionary Mexico at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
• Newspapers in Mexico at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
• Padrones of the Past: Colonial-era Censuses of Mexico at Legacy Family Tree Webinars

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