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Ecuador Whites and Mestizos
Whites constituted the most privileged ethnic group and
occupied the top of Ecuador's social pyramid. Despite their own
realization that there was an admixture of Indian genes in their
heritage, whites placed considerable emphasis on their purported
purity of blood and Spanish ancestry. Although whites shared a
common cultural background, differences in class and regional
loyalties--especially the split between Quito and Guayaquil--
remained important.
In general, financially successful whites were employed as
high-status professionals, government officials, prosperous
merchants, and financiers. In the white ideal, manual labor was
viewed as degrading and evidence of an inability to maintain a
proper lifestyle. Accordingly, business interests were geared
toward maintaining the family's social status rather than the
pursuit of economic success for its own sake.
Below the white elite, but merging with it, were mestizos or
cholos. Mestizos shared, to a large extent, a common set of
values and a general cultural orientation with whites. Indeed, the
boundary between the two groups remained fluid. Geography also
played a role. In the smaller towns of the Sierra, those of mixed
ancestry would call themselves whites, but they would be considered
as mestizos by whites of larger cities or by those with more
clearly superior social status. Income and lifestyle also
constituted important factors; a wealthy mestizo might be called a
white, whereas a poorer one would be classified as a mestizo. Those
in rural areas sometimes distinguished between "whites" and
"legitimate whites." The latter could demonstrate to the
satisfaction of the local community that their parents were
considered white. Differing views of ethnicity partially reflected
status differences between those involved in a given exchange.
Hacienda foremen, for example, typically thought of themselves as
whites. Although Indians would agree with that classification,
hacendados regarded foremen as mestizos.
The terminology and categories themselves derived from colonial
legal distinctions. Peninsulares (Spanish-born persons
residing in the New World) ranked at the top of the social
hierarchy. They enjoyed a range of legal privileges and status
denied even wealthy criollos born of Spanish parents in the
colonies. The pedigree of forbearers defined status at every level.
Individuals were ranked by the number of grandparents legally
classified as white.
Common usage, however, modified the categories through the
centuries. In the nineteenth century, for example, the term mestizo
described a person whose parents were an Indian and a white. In
contrast, a cholo was one whose parents were an Indian and
a mestizo. By the twentieth century, mestizo and cholo were
frequently used interchangeably. On occasion, however, some people
used cholo in a derogatory sense to describe an Indian
trying to rise above his or her proper station. Other people might
use cholo to designate an intermediate category between
Indian and mestizo.
As with whites, facility in Spanish, urban orientation,
livelihood, manners, and fineness of clothing defined mestizo
identity. Traditionally, mestizos filled the intermediate
occupations such as clerk, small merchant, hacienda foreman, and
low-ranking bureaucrat. Although mestizos were assumed to be of
mixed Indian-white ancestry, an Indian might gradually become
mestizo by abandoning his or her previous lifestyle.
Usually, individuals desiring to switch ethnic affiliation had
to leave their villages, learn Spanish well enough to mask their
origin, and acquire a mestizo occupation. They also had to acquire
sufficient finesse and confidence in dealing with whites and
mestizos not to be marked as Indians. It was virtually impossible
for an Indian to change ethnic identity in his or her home
community. No improvement in expertise, level of education, or
facility in Spanish would cause locals to treat one born an Indian
as a mestizo.
In special circumstances, individuals could move from one group
to the other without leaving their communities. For example, the
Saraguro Indians of southern Ecuador were generally more prosperous
than local whites. Indeed, the latter either depended on the
Saraguros for their livelihood or lived in communities where
typically most of the populace was Indian. As a result, a
distinctive pattern of ethnic change prevailed. Some whites opted
to become Indians, usually improving their economic options in the
process. A few Indians decided to improve their ethnic status and
became white. The switch was made, however, without resort to
subterfuge. Indians did not hide their origins, nor leave their
home communities.
Data as of 1989
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