How did the Spanish discriminate among racial groupings during the colonization of the Americas?

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Karen Hill

Discrimination existed in Spanish America, though it varied in degree from colony to colony.

In general, the highest privileges and official positions went to pure Spanish people born in Spain. Next down on the ladder of status were criollos, or Creoles, people born in America of pure Spanish descent.

Mestizos and mulattoes stood below them, and pure Native Americans and pure Africans were at the bottom.

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