The Muslims of Spain: Moors, Moriscos, and Muladies

The case of al-Andalus and its Andalusi Muslims is a classical example of the clash of civilizations and history being re-written by the winners. Al-Andalus was the name given to the Iberian peninsula (modern Spain & Portugal) by the Arabs who conquered it beginning in 711 AD and who would control parts of it until 1492.

In standard history textbooks, we are taught that the Muslims of al-Andalus were “Moors”, a term that has been ambiguously by Europeans used to refer either to Arabs, Berbers, or black Muslims, or to Muslims in general. These textbooks will tell you that the Moors conquered Spain and ruled it for 800 years, during which the Christians of the unconquered far north of the peninsula were launching a war of reconquest (la reconquista) to “take back” their country from the invading Moors which culminated in the 1492 conquest of Granada, the last Muslim state and city of Iberia. This history is thus presented as a typical case of a colonial power taking over a country and then the local population rising up and throwing their colonizers out. However, this is wrong. Why? Because this was not any typical conquest or even colonization. In fact, none of the Arab conquests were typical. They were in a sense, innovative. Today (most of) the people in the formerely conquered regions, from Iraq and Syria, to Egypt and Morocco, speak in Arabic, practice Islam, and proclaim themselves Arabs. You won’t be finding any Persians or Russians calling themselves Mongols, nor any Jamaicans or Indians saying they are British. Even in the formerly conquered areas where the people don’t speak Arabic or call themselves Arabs (Iran, Turkestan, and Pakistan), the people are staunchly Muslim. In Spain/Iberia, it was no different to the rest of the Muslim Arab conquests, except that the peninsula was reconquered by the former religious group, who re-Christianized and re-Romanized the region.

To be blunt, the Muslims of Iberia were, for the most part, not Arabs, Berbers, nor blacks. They were muwalladun (or muladi), meaning that they were of indigenous Iberian ancestry. They were Iberian Christians converted to Islam, who later exchanged their Romance language for Arabic, and their “Roman” (the Iberians, like the French and Romanians are Romans in culture, not ancestry) identity for an Arab one. This was similar to how most of the ancient Coptic-speaking Egyptian Christians and Aramaic-speaking Syrian Christians slowly became today’s Arabic-speaking Egyptian and Syrian Muslims.

Yes, the initial Muslims of Iberia were of course Arabs and Berbers, just like the first Muslims in Egypt and Syria were Bedouins from Arabia, but after about the year 950, most Andalusi Muslims were native converts from Christianity who over the centuries adopted the Arabic language. In the beginning, we know from archaeological and historical evidence that different ethnicities were recognized among the Muslims in Iberia. Divisions in identity, like Arab, Berber, Muladi, Zanji (black), and Saqaliba (Slav) were clear in Andalusi minds. However, after about the year 1000, when al-Andalus began to fracture into separate taifa (local) kingdoms, the ethnic differences began to be blurred out and all Muslims came to identify as Arabs, given that they spoke in Arabic (a unique dialect at that). This was also facilitated by the fact that the overwhelming majority of Muslims by this time were Muladi, who composed around 80% of the Andalusi population by 1100. Richard Bulliet, in his book “Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period” demonstrates a “conversion curve”, which depicts a society’s conversion to Islam (under Arab rule) as a logistic curve, where few convert in the beginning, but after about 200-300 years of Arab rule, the majority begin adopting Islam, and afterwards, less and less people convert, leaving a “conversion-resistant” group as the minority who still holds on to pre-Islamic traditions, language, and religion (typically accounting for 15-20% of the Islamized population). While this curve is not so great for tribal societies, like in the Maghreb where the people who still hold on to the Berber identity yet practice Islam, this is great for describing Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and Spain (and to a certain extent, Iran). We see in Bulliet’s work, that the majority of Iberians should have converted between 900-1000 AD. And indeed, we see that it was precisely during this time that the mosques were enlarged, the Christian clergy warned of “Latins” (Christians) becoming “Chaldeans” (Muslims), and the tax revenues were thinned (new Muslims no longer had to pay the jizya tax). In fact, the 10th century ‘Abd ar-Rahman III, considered one of the greatest ruler of al-Andalus, was pale, blue-eyed, and died his hair black according to contemporary accounts of him.

However, after ‘Abd ar-Rahman III proclaimed himself Caliph of all Islam, his successors battled for the inheritance and Muslim Iberia fractured into separate petty taifa states, which were one by one conquered by the now powerful Christian kingdoms of the north. The process of Arabization and Islamization was reversed as most of the Christian kings (particularly the Kingdom of Castile) who conquered these taifas ordered Muslims to convert to Christianity and abandon their Arabic speech in favor of a “Christian” language (Romance). Perhaps the only real Berber and black rulers in Spain, the Almohads and Almoravids, respectively, conquered al-Andalus and were responsible for importing attempting to forcibly convert the remaining non-Muslim population. However, after the Almoravids, the remaining taifa kingdoms were conquered by Castile and Portugal, except for the Emirate of Granada in the far south, where thousands of Muslims and even Jews fled in order to escape persecution. Now all the Christian kingdoms (Galicia, Asturias, Leon, Castile, Aragon, Navarre, and Catalonia) except Portugal were coalescing into a single country, Spain (finalized in 1469). By this time, the Muslims firmly called themselves “Arabs” even though they were mostly Iberians.

It is worth noting that whenever a group of people fight together against a common enemy who calls them out for a particular trait (religion, ethnicity, culture), that group gains a collective identity and becomes cohesive as a society. Therefore we see how in fighting the Christians, the Andalusi Muslims gained a common identity, whereas before, they recognized that they were mostly non-Arab converts, with a minority of Arabs, Berbers, etc.

Anyhow, after the conquest of Granada, the Muslim population was given the choice of conversion, exile, or death. About half chose exile and about half chose conversion. However, it is obvious that forcing a person to convert won’t make him/her honestly adopt the new religion. And so the now-Christian Andalusies continued to practice Islam in secret. That’s where the Inquisition came in in order to root out “heretics”. These new Christians were called Moriscos or “little Moors” However, even after 100 years, the Spanish & Portuguese governments weren’t happy and expelled the Moriscos in 1609 and 1614. To add insult to injury, the history of al-Andalus and the identity of the Andalusi Muslims was altered by the victorious Christians who labelled the Muslims as foreign invaders who were rightfully being dispossessed by the “true” owners of the land. Forget Muladies, history (as dictated by “traditional” Spanish/Portuguese history) would remember these Muslims as Moors, foreign invaders of Arabic or (North) African origin who merely “occupied” Iberia as oppressive Islamic overlords. Unfortunately, this is the view that has prevailed among most people today. Yet, an increasing amount of scholars (even Spanish & Portuguese ones) are recognizing that the so-called Moors of Spain were in fact Muslim Spaniards.

As for those (mostly Afrocentrists) still presenting the Muslims in Spain as blacks and showing off paintings of black Muslim “Moors”, it suffices to say that practically all of those paintings were made by non-Iberian Europeans in the 19th to 20th centuries, over two hundred years after the last of the Moriscos was expelled from Iberia. You also have Shakespeare’s Othello, a black Muslim “Moor”, but this play is from the 17th century and of course, we know Shakespeare was English and never traveled to Iberia. There are a few medieval paintings showing black Muslims in Spain, including the famous one about blacks playing chess, but these are only a handful of pictures compared to hundreds of other medieval Christian and Muslim paintings depicting the Muslims of Spain as light skinned and even light haired.

The famous picture that Afrocentrists love using to “prove” that the Muslim Andalusies were black. In fact, one of the only pictures of blacks in medieval Spain. It is from “The Book of Games”, a Castillian translation from Arabic that was commissioned by King Alfonso X.

The complement to the above picture. Also from The Book of Games. This type of Muslim is overwhelmingly more common in the book than the couple of medieval black Muslim illustrations. Also, notice a Muslim ginger! 

The only other picture of a black Muslim in Spain that I have yet seen (excepting one of the following pictures that depicts 1 black Muslim among 5 non-black Muslims).

A Christian and a Muslim playing chess in Spain, note the light features of the Muslim. Apparently the Christians did not find the Muslims to be darker than themselves.

Christian and Muslim playing chess. From The Book of Games. King Alfonso X ordered illustrations to be added to the book, so these pictures are what the Christian of Iberia saw the Muslims as.

“The Moorish Chief”. A favorite by Afrocentrists. Note, this painting is not from the time period of al-Andalus (711-1492). This is from 1878 (by Eduard Charlemont).

The following are Moor pictures, of Moors! Notice how many of these “Moors” even have blonde hair, and notice the last picture contains one black Muslim, one brown Muslim, and four white Muslims (including a blonde).

To finalize this and drive the point home, let’s find out about the descendants of the Moriscos and Spanish “Moors”. Hundreds of thousands of Andalusi Muslims fled Iberia throughout the reconquista, especially during the fall of Seville, Cordoba, and Granada, and after the 1609-1614 expulsions of the Moriscos. The grand majority migrated to North Africa, especially Morocco and Tunisia, where their descendants live to the present day. the interesting and exciting fact is that these people have preserved their identity and many have not intermarried with the local population, thereby leaving us with direct evidence of who their ancestors were. They claim descent from Muslim Andalusi refugees and expelled Moriscos. Their cities and towns have a medieval Spanish/Andalusi layout, their architecture is noticeably Spanish/Andalusi/Mudejar, their last names are Arabized versions of Spanish (& Portuguese) names and cities, and their appearance is noticeably European. Anthropologist William Ripley stated in his book The Races of Europe, that, “Allied to the Arabs are the Moors, or town-dwelling Arabs. They are fairer in complexion than the country Arabs, which may be partly explain by the fact that many are descendants of the Moriscos expelled from Spain, who had absorbed Spanish blood” (405). This means that the “Moors” were lighter-skinned than the brown-skinned Arabs, NOT any black-skinned people. After Ripley, anthropologist Carleton Coon in his own The Races of Europe book, states that “The racial character of the richer, city-dwelling Moors of Andalusia, before the time of their expulsion, may be suggested by a study of the almost wholly unmixed descendants of these emigres in Morocco… In facial morphology, they are fully Andalusian. The implication is that the Moors in Spain took more from the population of the peninsula, in a racial sense, than they gave” (494-495).

Niama Moumen, a descendant of Andalusi Muslims in Morocco, note her features and tell me if they come from sub-Saharan or North Africa?

Moor pictures again! This time descendants of Andalusi Muslims in Morocco and Tunisia. I got most of these pictures from Facebook. How? It’s easy, most of the descendants of Moriscos are known to have Arabized Spanish (& Portuguese) surnames. So for example, the surname “Chtiba”, which comes from the Spanish city of “Xativa”. In fact, many of these names come from the names of Spanish cities. Others include Zbiss (Llopis), Chbili (Seville), Gharbi (Algarve or “Westerner”), Gharnati (Granada). The following are people from Morocco and Tunisia who bear these Arabized Spanish last names. No suprise, many of them come from the Tangier-Tetouan region of Morocco and the Beja governate in Tunisia, where most of the descendants of the Andalusies are known to live.

Modern documentaries produced by Spaniards themselves show the descendants of the Andalusi Muslims. The following video is a testament to the true origin of the “Moors” of Iberia. It is actually fascinating to watch these videos, even for those who might not understand Spanish.

As suspected, most of these people identify as Arabs, even though most of them are clearly white. I guess these guys (along with the unknown descendants of the Sicilian “Arabs”) are the white complement to the black “Arabs” of the Sudan and the Sahara, and even some of the yellow “Arabs” of Central Asia (even though most Central Asian Arabs are not of Mongoloid origin). Today, there are an estimated 5 million descendants of the Andalusies in Morocco alone. With Moroccan immigration to Spain, most Muslims in Iberia are now truly “Moors” – North Africans, though at least some of the immigrants are probably descendants of Andalusies, so some of these guys have returned to the land of their ancestors perhaps without even knowing it!

There you go folks, that is the “Moors” for you.

I Am Back!

After a 2 year hiatus, I am back (for those of you who followed me!) and ready to post more articles. Given the two previous articles, you can expect more articles about peoples and their history and race. I might also post other articles as well, so stay tuned!

The Turks

The modern Anatolians (simply called Turks) are a fascinating people. They are a melting pot of different Caucasoid peoples with a small amount of Mongoloid. The Y-chromosome and mtDNA haplogroups of the Turks can be found here: http://www.scs.illinois.edu/~mcdonald/WorldHaplogroupsMaps.pdf .

The modern-day Turks of Anatolia are a mixture of ancient Anatolians (Hittites, Luwians, Lycians, etc.), Greeks, Romans, Caucasians (from the Caucasus), Arabs, Iranians, Albanians, Slavs, Central Asians, and even remnants of Celts (Galatians), Scandinavians (Vikings), and Germans (Barbarians). It is unknown whether the Central Asiatic Turks who arrived in Anatolia were pure Turks (Mongoloid), or already a Eurasian mixture (like most modern-day Turkic Central Asians are). Given that the Turks have Mongoloid haplogroups that comprise around 10% of the general population’s genome, it is probable that either the Central Asiatic invaders were Mongoloid and not large in number, or the native Anatolian population was much larger, or their blood was diluted by ethnic mixing during Ottoman times, or the Central Asians were a Caucasoid-Mongoloid mixture, or any combination of the four.

The Turks imported slaves from all of their colonies during Ottoman times, so most Turks probably also have a bit of Berber, Jewish, and black African ancestry. Genetic tests have shown Turks to be around 0.75% black. This is less than the percent of black found in southern Europeans and most Middle Easterners. Turks also have an East Asian admixture of 5.7% – 10.2% by Y-chromosome. (Definitively 5.7%, the additional 4.5% is a haplogroup K that is found in “Caucasian and Asian” populations, so this is more ambiguous). The Mongoloid sequences of mtDNA in the Turks must have been less than the Y-chromosome given that the Central Asiatic Turks left their mark  mostl culturally and linguistically – gradually but partly by force, unlikely to be caused by women in those days (no sexism inplied). Also, I once heard a Turk say that for Turkic peoples, the mother’s ethnicity doesn’t matter, it is the father’s that matters. So, for example, if a person’s mother is Greek and the father is Turkic, then that person is considered Turkic by virtue of the father (and that person will probably be raised with the father’s religion, culture, and language). The Seljuk Turks and then the Ottomans (Oghuz) Turks were the rulers of Anatolia and later the Ottoman Empire, thereby replacing the dominated population’s language, culture, and religions with the ruler’s Turkic language, culture, religion (which was Islam).

The Turks have historically either conscriptied/converted or genocided the Christians in their empire. Genocides and ethnic cleansing against Greek, Armenian, and Assyrian populations have occured during the Balkan Wars of Independence and World War I, while Greeks have ethnically cleansed and genocided Turks in Greece during the Greek War of Independence. The cruely irony is that some Turks (particularly in western Anatolia, Thrace, and the Pontic/Black Sea) are simply Islamified and Turkicized Greeks, while some Turks in eastern Anatolia are more likely than not Islamified and Turkicized Georgians, Armenians, and even Kurds.

The Turks, since the early 20th century, have overemphasized their Turkishness, highlighting that they are Central Asians. However, modern genetic analysis puts the Turks closer to their neighbors in Europe, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. The Central Asian component in Turks is minor.

Here is some comparison of Balkan and Turkic populations.

This chart shows how Anatolian Turks are closer to the Balkans than to Central Asia.

Now, I do not know what the ancient indigenous Anatolians looked like, but they probably had an appearance similar to that of Levantines (eastern Mediterranean people) and were also more likely to have a look closer to Europeans and Iranians, with light-brown skins or light skins or both. What has been found by genetics results though, is that the general Turkish population is mostly descended from indigenous Anatolians.

The following are some pictures of footballers from the Turkish national football team (soccer).

 The following are pictures that, much to my dismay and anger, failed to show up after I posted them. But I posted them here: http://s1185.photobucket.com/albums/z342/lobertrindsay/ . Also, here are their descriptions. Arda Turan, who has a typical Middle Eastern or (darker-skinned) southern European look. Caglar Birinci, presenting a Slavic (or Greek) appearance. Emre Gungor, showing a more East Asiatic look. Interestingly, he looks like an Amerindian or a mestizo. Hamit Altintop, a German-born Turk, possessing an appearance between East Asian and Arab. Mehmet Topal; light-skinned, and appears Greek or Iberian or Italian. Sabri Sarioglu, who looks Slavic. Semih Senturk, who possesses a Persian appearance. Servet Cetin, who has a mestizo look. Tolga Zengin; has a very Northeast Asian appearance, complete with ghost-white pale skin. Tuncay Sanli, who possesses a Mediterranean look. Volkan Demirel; he has an Iberian phenotype.

Races of Mexico

Well, this is my first post and is subject to change. Also, be warned that this post is long!

I have always found Latin Americans to be an interesting bunch, particularly Mexicans, as this is the group most English-speakers (at least Americans) are familiar with. However, they are not very familiar with them, and this is the paradox. Mexicans and Americans have been neighbors since 1803, when the US acquired the Louisiana Territory from France and brought its western frontier to the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Spain, where the independent nation of Mexico would be created in 1821. Yet, after 208 years of being neighbors, most Americans still have a false idea of what race Mexicans are. The average American (even Mexican-Americans and other Latin Americans in the US) thinks that either Mexicans belong to the “Hispanic/Latino” ‘racial’ group or that they are of the “Mexican race”. A minority think Mexicans are Spaniards or Aztecs & Mayans or a mixture of both. Many Americans don’t even know that the Spaniards are white Europeans and that the Aztecs and Mayans are American Indians (and that the Aztecs and Mayans are only two of the many Amerindian groups in Mexico).

Note: American Indian = Amerindian = Indigenous = Indian = Amerind

So a bit of education seems to be necessary here.

Most Mexicans are mestizos, meaning they are a racial mixture of Europeans and Amerindians. A large minority of Mexicans are either “pure” Amerindian or “pure” white European. I put the word pure in quotation marks since genetic studies have revealed Mexican Indians and white Mexicans to be admixed in varying degrees, particularly the Indians.

These are some mestizos from Mexico City. You can see the interesting variety of phenotypes that are present in Mexico's mestizos.

Now, most of the European component in mestizo Mexicans comes from the Spanish, but there are also minorities of French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Irish, and very small minorities of British, Swedish, Greek, Romanian, Polish, Russian, Albanian, Yugoslavian, Armenian, and Turkish (if you consider these last two European), and European Jews.

Here, British means: English, Scottish, Welsh, and Cornish. Also, here, Yugoslavian refers to: Serbians, Kosovars, and Muslim & Christian Bosnians.

The Jewish presence in Mexico dates back to the first conquistadors, some of whom were Crypto Jews (Sephardim). Many more Sephardic Jews (as well as Muslim Spaniards, North Africans, and Arabs) arrived in Mexico during the first century of colonization, since they were trying to flee the Spanish Inquisition. Sadly, many perished in Mexico as the Spanish extended their inquisition into their colonies, yielding the Mexican Inquisition. Even more Jews (including Ashkenazim; or were [I am not sure about this] mostly Ashkenazi Jews) settled in Mexico during the 1930s and 1940s (and beyond).

The Spanish have been settling Mexico since 1511 when two Spanish survivers of a shipwreck washed up on Cozumel and the Yucatan, where they were taken up by Mayans and fostered Mexico’s first mestizos. Millions of Spaniards settled all over their colonies Americas during the colonial era (around half of these to Mexico). A massive wave of Spaniards then arrived to escape the horrors of the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. The French arrived after Mexico gained independence. Many more (including an unknown number of Austrians and Belgians) arrived by the thousands to Mexico after France colonized Mexico and set up Maximilian the Habsburg as emperor of Mexico. Large numbers of other Europeans (mainly Italians and Germans) came to Mexico during World War II and the Cold War. The Cold War also brought new European refugees and immigrants to Mexico, like the Slavs. White Americans heavily settled Mexico’s Alta California and Texas – which didn’t end too well for Mexico. However, Mexico-friendly white Americans have since arrived in Mexico (as a matter of fact, Vicente Fox, who served as Mexico’s president from 2000 – 2006, is descended from German/Irish American immigrant who came to Mexico during the American Civil War). Whites from Canada also came; whites from Argentina have begun a recent trend of immigration to Mexico City and central Mexico (obviously avoiding violent northern Mexico and poverty-stricken southern Mexico). The Irish came to Mexico for common religion. There was even a group of Irish and German Catholic immigrants in the US who created the Saint Patrick’s Battalion and fought for Mexico during the Mexican-American War after mistreatment and discrimination by Protestant American officers. German and Dutch Mennonites who speak Plattsdiestch (an old German dialect) came to Mexico from Canada, Swedish Mennonites came to Mexico’s state of Chihuahua, Russian Molokans came to Mexico’s Baja California recently, Scottish immigrants founded a town in northern Mexico, and a special group of Italian immigrants who speak an old dialect, Venetian, founded the town of Chipilo in Puebla. Interesting to note: Cornish miners who immigrated to Mexico introduced soccer; Germans immigrants’ polka music heavily influenced the creation of northern Mexico’s ranchero music; many Mexican dishes and pastry were created and based on French and other non-Spanish European cuisine during the French rule in Mexico, and during this time period, Mariachi music was born (Mariachi is a corruption of the French word mariage, or marriage). Almost all the non-Spanish European immigration to Mexico occured after Mexico gained independence.

This is Molotov, a Mexican band composed of white Mexicans. Interestingly, the guy wearing the hoodie in the front looks like the typical Mexican, except with white skin.

The indigenous component in Mexicans is diverse and depends on location. Indigenous groups that Mexican mestizos are descended from include: Nahuas, Mayans, Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Zacatecs, Mazatecs, Coahuiltecs, Tamaulipecs, Yaquis, and many more. Some Mexican mestizos in what is today the Southwestern United States have descent from the Chumash, Pueblos, Navajos, Hopis, Zunis, and even the  Apaches. Though most of these mestizos never identify with any of those groups, they identify as Mexican, and many identify as Spanish, not Mexican. I digress, but the so-called “Hispanos” or “Spanish-Americans” of the Southwest are really Mexican mestizos whose ancestors lived in the Southwest when the U.S. took it over in 1848. They started to identify as “Spanish” to distance themselves from the Mexican immigrants who started arriving during the Mexican Revolution.

A Mixtec Indian couple.

Most people (even most Mexicans) don’t know this, but there is an occult 3rd, 4th, and 5th root in mestizo Mexicans.

The 3rd root is the (sub-Saharan) African root. The black presence in Mexico dates back to the beginnings of colonization where blacks were brought as enslaved soldiers. Later during the colonial era, blacks were imported from Africa to ports in eastern Mexico to serve as slave laborers. These slaves were distributed to work in Veracruz, Tabasco, Tlaxcala, Guerrero, and Oaxaca. Most mixed with Mexicans of other races because their children could be legally free if one of the kid’s parents was free. Therefore, in short time, the black slaves ‘s population decreased, and many part-black Mexicans came to being: mulattos (mixed European-African), zambos (mixed Amerind-African), and triracials. Many of these part-black Mexicans became among the first settlers in modern-day northern Mexico and Southwestern USA. Today, blacks and part-blacks form about 1% of Mexico’s population and are limited to villages along the coasts of eastern and southwestern Mexico. Interesting to note: Mexico’s second president, Vicente Guerrero, was part-black.

These are some Afro-Mexican women. Notice how they are mixed-race.

The 4th root is a root that Mexicans had already inherited from the Amerindians: (East) Asians. Amerindians originally descend from East Asians who came across the Bering land bridge that once connected Siberia to Alaska. However, the Asian root is deeper than just the Amerindians. Not content with bringing enslaved Africans, the Spaniards also imported people from their colony in Asia – the Philippines. Filipinos worked as indentured servants and slaves along the coasts of western Mexico (particularly in Guerrero). Following the blacks’ example, the Filipinos also mixed out with other races in Mexico. Moreover, during the early 20th century, besides the new Korean and Japanese immigrants to central Mexico, waves of Chinese immigrants came to Baja California, Sonora, and Sinaloa. In those days, many towns in Baja California were more Chinese than they were Mexican. Heavy Chinese populations were also located in Tijuana, Mexicali, and Mexico City. Sadly, in the 1930s, most of the Chinese were sent back to China following a wave of anti-Chinese sentiment in Mexico. Though, today there are large Chinese or part-Chinese populations in places like Mexicali and even Mexico City.

This is Ana Gabriel, she is a Mexican singer who is half-Chinese.

The 5th root is the Arabian root. Now, I am aware that the Arabs are Caucasians like the Europeans, but they are still not Europeans. The funny thing though, is that many Arabs in Mexico do look like Europeans (and are also light-skinned). This is because most all of the Arab immigrants were Lebanese, Syrians, Palestinians, Iraqis, Jordanians, and Egyptians. Most came during World War I when the Ottoman Empire was collapsing and performing attrocities on non-Turkish, non-Muslim populations within their empire. Since they came from Turkey (Ottoman Empire), many Mexicans called them “Turks”. But most were not Muslims, they were Christians escaping religious persecution back home. Although they might not admit it, the only real Arabs are Saudis, Yemenis, Omanis, Emiratis, and Bedouins. The rest of the peoples in the Middle East and North Africa who identify as “Arab” are just assimilated Arabs, who identifiedas Arabs after they were conquered and/or converted to Islam. Genetic studies have already proved this. Digressing, the Palestinians, for example, are descended from indigenous peoples of the Levant (eastern Mediterranean) and not from the Arabian peninsula, though they identify as Arabs. This is why Lebanese, Palestinians, Syrians, and Iraqis are generally lighter-skinned than Arabs from the Arabian peninsula. Anyways, the Arab influence in Mexico is deep. For one, they introduced foods like the tacos al pastor. Also, they are deeply rooted in the political and economic life of Mexico. Examples: the richest man in Mexico and the world is Carlos Slim, a Mexican of Lebanese ancestry; Salma Hayek is also of Lebanese ancestry.

This is Carlos Slim, the richest man in the world. He is a Mexican of Lebanese descent. Note how he is quite light. All 4 of his grandparents were from Lebanon.

Mexico’s population can be divided into the following percentages (the first three are uncertain):

Mestizo: 65-70%

White European: 15-20%

Amerindian: 10-14%

Black, mulatto, or zambo: ±1%

Asian, or part-Asian: ±1%

Arab: ±1% (Part Arab: ?%)

Note: “Mestizo” is difficult to measure since many mestizos can look European, others can look Amerindian. Some who claim to be mestizo are really Hispanicized Indians, while others are whites in-denial.

Many people base their percentage of Mexico’s population on the CIA World Factbook’s statistics of 60% Mestizo, 30% Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian, 9% White, and 1% Other. However, this statistic was taken off the 1921 Mexican census, which was the last census in Mexico to record race. The CIA distorts the percentages somewhat, the 1921 census recorded the following: 59% Mestizo, 29% Amerindian, 10% White, 2% Other, Foreigner (regardless of race), or chose to ignore race.  Since 1921, large numbers of Spanish and other Europeans arrived in Mexico during the Spanish Civil War and World War II (and even the lengthy Cold War). They somewhat changed the racial demographics of Mexico.

Moving on to genetics:

In northern Mexico, mestizos have European ancestries ranging from 44-79%, and in southern Mexico the mestizos have Indian ancestries ranging from 51-76%. African ancestry is strongly present in Veracruz and Guerrero. Veracruz Mexicans tend to have an African admixture that varies from 12-18%. Guerrero Mexicans have African admixtures of 7-22%. Some studies (using old admixture-determining techniques) have produces African ancestries of about 25% in Veracruz, about 20% in Tabasco, and about 33% in Campeche. These percentages are based on my interpretation of circle graphs that show these results, but I have found out from a study that mentions them that the actual percentages are between 20-40%. This level of admixture is doubtful however, as this would mean that Mexicans from those states would have an appearance similar to that of mulatto Dominicans or Brazilians. Veracruz mestizos tend to look more Indian, Tabasco mestizos tend to appear more Caucasian, and Campeche mestizos have a variety of appearance. African appearances in the three states are uncommon, but not rare. Only one study so far has shown any discernible East Asian admixture in the general Mexican population – 1%. At a certain point, it is difficult to measure, since Amerindian and East Asian genetics are similar (they are both of the larger Mongoloid race) and what can be perceived to belong to one group really belongs to the other. What is apparant though, is that Amerindian ancestry overwhelmingly predominates over any East Asian ancestry in mestizos. Now, Arab ancestry is more difficult still to determine in mestizos, since both Arabs and Europeans are of the larger Caucasoid race. Obviously however, European ancestry is the almost-total Caucasian ancestry in mestizos.

Studies on the ancestral contributions that Caucasians, Amerindians, Africans (and Asians) have on Mexicans is variable and (I think) never totally correct. For one, many studies take individuals from only certain states and produce results dramatically different from previous results of mestizos from the same states. Others take mostly states that are heavily Indian, others don’t select mestizos, they randomly select Mexicans (usually states where there are more “pure” Indians). Most of the studies use these things called “foci” (I am still trying to determine how that works) to determine the racial ancestry in Mexican mestizos. One study using some type of foci got an average European ancestry for mestizos of 59%, another got 54%. One got an African ancestry for mestizos of 9%, another got 3%. So as you can see, they are variable, and I don’t think they provide a really good picture of what Mexicans are.

One study is confounding, it is a study done by the INMEGEN organization of Mexico. It randomly chose 300 self-identified mestizos from Guanajuato, Sonora, Veracruz, Zacatecas, Yucatan, and Guerrero. It was the “Mexican Genome Project”. It showed that Mexican mestizos are on average 65% Indian, 34% White, and 1% Black. What confuses me is that this was the reported result by one person who conducted the study. The official website of the INMEGEN itself reported the findings of the same study as indicating that Mexicans are 55% Indian, 42% White, 2% Black, and 1% East Asian. First of all, 300 Mexicans does not equal 112,000,000 Mexicans. Second of all, 6 of Mexico’s states don’t equal 31 of Mexico’s states plus the Federal District (Mexico City). And third, they classed 80% of Mexicans as mestizos, who knows how they calculated that from 300 randomly-selected Mexicans. They also took Mexico’s one of Mexico’s most indigenous states (Guerrero), two very indigenous and slightly more indigenous states (Veracruz  and Yucatan, respectively), one “even” state (Guanajuato), and two heavily white and Euro-mestizo states (Sonora and Zacatecas, respectively). The study found that Zacatecas had a white admixture of 40%, even though most studies have produced white ancestries of 70-80%. Sonora was only 58-61% white in this study, while in other studies it has been found to be 70% white. 300 Mexicans from 6 states means that, if divided equally, there would be 50 people from each state. I believe the study is inaccurate due to its findings on the states (particularly Zacatecas).

One study though, showed Mexicans to be 59% Caucasian, 31% Indian, and 10% Black. I believe that this study is inaccurate in terms of the Amerindian ancestry (which should be higher) and the African ancestry (which should be lower). Another study found that Mexicans are 52% White, 45% Indian, and 4% Black. This is about correct I believe, but the stats percentages add up to 101%, so this is also strange. And yet another study found Mexicans to be around 50-55% White, 40-45% Indian, and 3-5% Black. The percentages for the aforementioned study are based on my interpretation of the bar graph showing the admixture results.

Mexico’s Indians have varying degrees of intermixture with whites and blacks. The Zapotec Indians in Guerrero, for example, have a general admixture of 98% Indian, 1% White, and 1% Black. The Huastec Indians of north-central Mexico have a general admixture of 63% Indian, and 37% White & Black (exact percentages for white and black admixture individually is not shown in the study). The interesting thing is that some self-identified Indians have less Indian blood than certain self-identified mestizo populations. I have seen several videos, such as this one: , where self-idenfitied Indians who speak Indian languages look very European. But this comes to show that most, if not all, of Mexico’s Indians are mixed to one degree or another. It seems that for some populations, they are racially the same, except one (mestizos) are Hispanicized and the other (Indians) keep pre-Hispanic traditions.

Mayans protesting in Mexico. Notice how the man in the far left and the man in the center look like typical Indo-mestizos.

MEXICAN AMERICANS:

Historically, most Mexican Americans (pre-1848 and post-1848) in the Southwest have had ancestors from the following states: Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Sinaloa, Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi, Guanajuato, Nayarit, Jalisco, and Michoacan. The mestizos in most of these states are Euro-mestizo (meaning they’re more white than Indian). This is reflected in studies that have shown Mexicans in the Southwest to be 65-67% White and 35-33% Indian (breaking the Chicano myth of Mexicans, particularly Mexican-Americans being “80% Amerindian”). The Southwest here is understood to be Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas. California Mexicans were 68% White, 30% Indian, and 2% Black in a 1984 study. A study in 2000 revealed them to now be 47% White, 41% Indian, and 12% Black. This may be due to intermixture with Indo-mestizos (mestizos who are more Indian than white) from Central America and/or even some intermixture with African-Americans. It may also be due to intermixture with newer Mexican immigrants (who tend to be Indo-mestizo or even Indian, at least in California). On the subject of newer Mexican immigration. Nowadays, economic meltdowns (as the one in 1994-1995 Mexican peso devaluation crises) left 1 million Mexicans jobless in places like the industrial centers in Mexico’s core (Mexico City, Mexico state, Puebla, Hidalgo, Morelos, Tlaxcala). This drove thousands of Mexicans to the US from places where migration to the north was unusual. Few job opportunities, narco violence, and poverty in the south of Mexico have made more migrants to the US. These new immigrants come from: Mexico state, Mexico City, Hidalgo, Morelos, Tlaxcala, Puebla, Veracruz, Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Yucatan. However, narco violence in the north of Mexico has provoked migration to the USA out of security issues. These migrants come from some of the old sending states (Baja California, Sinaloa, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Chihuahua, Sonora, Coahuila).

Mexican-American gangsters. Many of the men in this photo have light skin, and the ones that don't still have strong Caucasian features.

Basically, Mexicans in the American East (perhaps except in Florida and Georgia) and the American Northwest (particularly Washington state) tend to be Indo-mestizos or Indians. Chicago Mexicans tend to be around evenly mestizo. Mexicans from Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Colorado are Euro-mestizo. Mexicans from California are about evenly mestizo (in the north they are Euro-mestizo). Nevada Mexicans tend to be Indo-mestizo. Today, the Mexican sending states to Texas and Arizona are mostly Euro-mestizo state, the sending states to California are the most various, while the sending states to Nevada, Virginia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, the Carolinas, and New Jersey are mostly Indo-mestizo. Other states I am not so sure about.

Cesar Chavez, a labor leader. He is a rarity among Mexican-Americans in that he is an Indian. Recent Mexican migrants to the U.S. are now more varied and include large numbers of Indo-mestizos and Indians.

EURO-MESTIZOS, INDO-MESTIZOS, AND “TRUE” MESTIZOS 

 

A map of Mexican mestizos based on genetic studies (only including the European to Amerindian proportion, since Guerrero, Veracruz, Tabasco, and Campeche have significant African admixture). Blue = Euro-mestizo; Red = Indo-mestizo; Purple = “True” mestizo. Euro-mestizo means the average European admixture in a state’s mestizos is 55% or more. Indo-mestizo means the average Indian admixture in a state’s mestizos is 55% or more. “True” mestizo means a state’s mestizos have an average European admixture of 46-54% (compared to Amerindian admixture) or an average Amerindian admixture of 46-54% (compared to European admixture). All of this of course not counting African admixture.

 

Mestizos' proportion of European and Amerindian blood by state.

Mexico’s north is mostly Euro-mestizo, while the south is mostly Indo-mestizo. Some of central Mexico (including Mexico City) is “true” mestizo. However, while most of Mexico’s territory is inhabited by Euro-mestizos, most of Mexico’s population is located in the south (including Mexico City). This leads more Mexicans to be Indo-mestizo and “true” mestizo than Euro-mestizo. Coahuila is barely Indo-mestizo. Although the states of the Yucatan peninsula have large indigenous populations, many of these historically haven’t mixed with the mestizos there, while the peninsula’s unexpectedly large number of whites have. This is since many of the Indians there live in relative isolation, and there has been historical antagonism between mestizos and Indians in the Yucatan; there was even a race war there, where different Mayan tribes united to drive out the mestizos and whites from the Yucatan, which drove large numbers of whites and mestizos over the border into Guatemala and Belize. Race relations are now way more relaxed, but even then, a decent amount of those who identify as Indians in the Yucatan are really mestizos who speak Yucatec Mayan and/or are un-Hispanicized.

RACIAL CATEGORIES

Now, perhaps I may have no right to do this. I will classify Mexicans into racial classifications much like the ones found in “The Major and Minor Races of Mankind” by Robert Lindsay. http://robertlindsay.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/the-major-and-minor-races-of-mankind/ The racial classifications of Mexicans are based on what Indians the mestizos were descended, what Spaniards (Galicians, Extremadurans, Castillians, Leonese, Basques, etc.) mestizo populations were descended from, and what the proportions of Indian and European blood mestizos had (African and Asian also taken into account). But the classifications are not the best, but they were made out of fun and curiosity and for a (even if wrong) model for Mexican populations. Some modern-day US states with old, historic Mexican mestizo populations (mixed with newer immigrant ones) are included.

* = significant genetic distance from most other groups

** = major genetic distance from most other groups

*** = extreme genetic distance from most other groups

Mexican Mestizo Major Race***

Northern Pacific Mestizo Race (California – Baja California – Baja California Sur)

Mountain Mestizo Race (Nevada – Utah)

Northwestern Mestizo Race (Arizona – Sonora – Sinaloa)

Desert Mestizo Race (Chihuahua – Durango)

Northeastern Mestizo Race (Coahuila – New Mexico – Nuevo Leon – Tamaulipas – Texas – Colorado)

Northern Central Mestizo Race (Zacatecas – Aguascalientes – San Luis Potosi)

Central Pacific Mestizo Race (Nayarit – Jalisco – Colima)

Southern Central Mestizo Race (Guanajuato – Queretaro)

Tarascan Mestizo Race (Michoacan)

Nahua Mestizo Race (Hidalgo – Mexico state – Morelos – Mexico City – Tlaxcala – Puebla)

Southern Pacific Mestizo Race (Guerrero – Oaxaca)

Veracruzan Mestizo Race (Veracruz)

Tabascan Mestizo Race (Tabasco)

Yucatec Mayan Mestizo Race (Campeche – Yucatan – Quintana Roo)

Chiapanec Mayan Mestizo Race (Chiapas) 

Caucasian Mexican Major Race***

Spanish Mexican Race* (Mexico – USA)

French Mexican Race (Mexico)

Chipilo Venetian Race* (Puebla)

Germanic Mennonite Race** (Chihuahua – Durango – Zacatecas)

Russian Molokan Race* (Baja California)

General European Mexican Race*** (Mexico)

Arab Mexican Race (Mexico)

Jewish Mexican Race*** (Mexico)

Mexican Amerindian Major Race*

California Indian Race (Baja California – Baja California Sur)

Southwest Indian Race (Northern Mexico)

Mesoamerican Indian Race* (Southern Mexico)

African Mexican Major Race***

General Afro-Mexican Race*** (Veracruz – Tabasco – Campeche – Guerrero – Oaxaca)

Asian Mexican Major Race*

Northeast Asian Mexican Race* (Baja California – Jalisco – Mexico City – Puebla – Chiapas – Yucatan)

Southeast Asian Mexican Race* (Guerrero)

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