Everything about Mulatto totally explained
Mulatto (
Spanish /
Portuguese mulato,
small mole,
person of mixed race,
mulatto, from
mulo,
mule, from Old Spanish, from
Latin mūlus) is a person of mixed black and white
ancestry or the offspring of one white parent and one black parent or someone 50%
black and 50%
white. This term was used in reference to the fact that a
mule is the offspring of a
horse and a
donkey. In film studies, it can also be used to depict a certain type of black character in a film.
United States
"Mulatto" was an official census category until
1930. In the south of the country, mulattos inherited slave status if their mother was a slave, although in Spanish and French-influenced areas of the South prior to the
Civil War (particularly
New Orleans, Louisiana), a number of mulattos were also free and slave-owning. Although it's commonly used to describe individuals of mixed European and African descent, it originally referred to anyone with mixed ethnicities. In fact, in the United States, "mulatto" was also used as a term for those of mixed white and Native American ancestry during the early census years. Mulatto was also used interchangeably with terms like "turk" leading to further ambiguity when referring to many North Africans and Middle Easterners.
Latin America
Mulattos represent a significant portion of various countries in
Latin America:
Belize (approx. 24.9%),
Dominican Republic (approx. 73%),
Brazil (approx. 40%),
Panama (approx. 26%),
Cuba (approx. 51%),
Colombia (approx. 14%),
Puerto Rico (approx. 26%),
Uruguay (approx. 8%),
Haiti (approx. 15%),
Venezuela (approx. 4%),
Costa Rica (approx. 5%),
Honduras(approx. 31%).
The roughly 200,000 Africans brought to Mexico were for the most part absorbed by the
mestizo populations of mixed European and
Amerindian descent. The state of
Guerrero once had a large population of African slaves. Other Mexican states inhabited by people with some African ancestry, along with other ancestries, include
Oaxaca,
Veracruz, and
Yucatán.
People of mixed ancestry also constitute a significant portion of the population of
Puerto Rico. In one recent genetic study of 800 Puerto Ricans, 61% had mitochondrial DNA (
mtDNA) from an Amerind female ancestor, 27% inherited mitochondrial DNA from a female African ancestor and 12% had mitochondrial DNA from a female European ancestor. Conversely, patrilineal input as indicated by the
Y chromosome showed that 70% of Puerto Rican males in the sample have Y chromosome DNA from a male European ancestor, 20% inherited Y chromosome DNA from a male African ancestor and less than 10% inherited Y chromosome DNA from male Amerindian ancestor. As these tests measure only the DNA along the matrilineal line and patrilineal lines of inheritance, each test only measures the one individual who mutated into a recognizable haplogroup and in tandem the thousands, perhaps millions, of descendants who subsequently mutated but remained within the haplogroup; they can't tell exactly with certainty what percentage of Puerto Ricans have recent African ancestry.
In
Haiti (formerly
Saint-Domingue), mulattos represented a smaller proportion of the population than in many other Latin American countries. Today they constitute about 15% of the population. In the 18th century, they made up a class of their own, the
gens de couleur. Often they were highly educated and wealthy. Many Haitian mulattos were also slaveholders and as such actively participated in the suppression of the black majority. However, some also actively fought for the abolition of slavery. Distinguished mulattos such as
Nicolas Suard and others were prime examples of mulattoes who devoted their time, energy and financial means to this cause. Some were also members of the
Les Amis des Noirs in Paris, an association that fought for the abolition of slavery. Nevertheless, many mulattos were slaughtered by African Haitians during the wars of independence in order to secure African political power over the island. Earlier some African volunteers had already aligned themselves with the French against the mulattos during the first and second mulatto rebellion. In Haiti, mulattos initially possessed legal equality with the unmixed French population. This provided them with many benefits, including inheritance. In the 18th century, however, Europeans fearful of slave revolts had restricted their rights, but they were successfully reclaimed in
1791.
Brazil
According to the
IBGE 2000 census, 38.5% of Brazilians identified themselves as
pardo, or of mixed ancestry. This figure not only includes mulatto people but also includes other multiracial people such as people who have European and Amerindian ancestry (called
caboclo). And according to the
IBGE census 2005 even 43,2% of the Brazilians have identified themselves as
pardo.
The term mulatto (
mulato in Portuguese) isn't commonly used anymore in Brazilian society. Instead, other terms widely used are
moreno, light-
moreno and dark-
moreno. These terms are not considered offensive, and focus more on the skin color than on the ethnicity (it is close to other human characteristics like tall and short). Those terms are also used for other multiracial people in Brazil, and they're the popular terms for the
pardo skin color used on the 2000 official census. On May 13 is the Mulatto Day in Brazil. The date is a reference to all that participated in the struggles for slavery abolition in the country, as José do Patrocínio, Luis Gama and André Rebouças and recalls the signing of Lei Áurea, on
May 13,
1888, which abolished slavery in Brazil.
Africa
In
Portuguese-speaking Africa, the term
mestiço is used to describe people of mixed European and African ancestry.
Of
São Tomé & Príncipe's 193,413 inhabitants, the largest segment is defined as
mestiço, and 71% of the population of
Cape Verde is also classified as such. The great majority of their current populations descend from the mixing of the Portuguese that initially settled the islands from the
15th century onwards and the black Africans brought from the
African mainland to work as slaves.
In
Angola and
Mozambique, they constitute smaller but still important minorities; 2% in Angola and 0.2% in Mozambique.
In
South Africa,
Namibia,
Zambia,
Botswana and
Zimbabwe, the term
Coloured (also known as
Bruinmense,
Kleurlinge or
Bruin Afrikaners in
Afrikaans) refers to individuals who possess some degree of sub-Saharan ancestry, but not enough to be considered Black under
South African law. In addition to European ancestry, they may also possess ancestry from
Indonesia,
India,
Sri Lanka,
Bangladesh,
Maldives,
Nepal, and
St. Helena. Besides the extensive combining of these diverse heritages in the
Western Cape, in other parts of
southern Africa, their development has usually been the result of the meeting of two distinct groups. Thus, in
KwaZulu-Natal, most coloureds come from British and
Zulu heritage, while Zimbabwean coloureds come from
Shona or
Ndebele mixing with British and
Afrikaner settlers.
Griqua, on the other hand, are descendants of
Khoisan and Afrikaner
trekboers. Despite these major differences, the fact that they draw parentage from more than one "naturalised" racial group means that they're "coloured" in the southern African context. This isn't to say that they necessarily identify themselves as such – with some preferring to call themselves "black" or "Khoisan" or just "South African."
Etymology
The term is thought to be derived from the Portuguese and Spanish word
mulato (a small mule), which itself is derived from
mulo or
mula (mule). It was once a generic designation name for any
hybrid. This is believed to be the reason it's considered offensive by some
English-speakers, although it isn't so considered by
Portuguese-speakers,
Spanish-speakers or
French-speakers (with the translation
mulâtre).
Another etymology which can be found in some dictionaries and scholarly works attempts to correlate the word's origins to the
Arabic term
muwallad, which means "a person of mixed ancestry".
Muwallad literally means, "born, begotten, produced, generated; brought up, raised; born and raised among Arabs (but not of pure Arab blood).
Muwallad is derived from the root word
WaLaD (Arabic: ولد direct Arabic transliteration:
waw, lam, dal).
Walad means, "descendant, offspring, scion; child; son; boy; young animal, young one."
Muwallad referred to the offspring of Arab men and foreign, non-Arab women. The term
muwalladin is used in Arabic up to this day to describe the children between Arab fathers and foreign mothers. According to Julio Izquierdo Labrado as well as Leopoldo Eguilaz y Yanguas as well as some Arabian sources,
muwallad is the etymological origin of
mulato. In this context
mulato would have been derived
directly from
muwallad rather than through
muladí, a term which was applied to Spanish Christians who had converted to Islam during the Arab domination of Spain. Rather, the two words may share a common etymological
muwallad base.
The Muwallad theory encounters certain problems when compared to a timeline of usage and definition. The term
mulato is documented in the data bank of the
Real Academia Española (Spanish Royal Academy) for the first time in
1472. It states "The term
mulata is documented in our diachronic data bank in 1472 and is used in reference to livestock mules in "Documentacion medieval de la Corte del Justicia de Ganaderos de Zaragoza", whereas
muladí (from
mullawadí) doesn't appear until the XVIII century, according to Corominas". Another problem with the Muwallad theory of origin is that Muwallad isn't phonetically similar to Mulato. The theory of Muladí was based on some similarity with Mulato. Even there, Muladí has a stress on the last vocal, while Mulato doesn't.
Further Information
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