In the context of the Spanish Empire, a peninsular (Spanish pronunciation: [peninsuˈlaɾ], pl. peninsulares) was a Spaniard born in Spain residing in the New World, Spanish East Indies, or Spanish Guinea.[1] Nowadays, the word peninsulares makes reference to Peninsular Spain and in contrast to the "islanders" (isleños), from the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands or the territories of Ceuta and Melilla.
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Colonial Spanish America, Spanish East Indies, and Spanish Guinea | |
| Languages | |
| Spanish dialects, Aragonese, Asturian, Basque, Catalan, Galician | |
| Religion | |
| Catholicism |
An equivalent to the Spanish peninsulares in Portuguese Colonial Brazil was the reinóis, Portuguese people born in Portugal, while Portuguese born in Brazil with both parents being reinóis were known as mazombos.
Spaniards born in the Spanish Philippines were called insular/es or originally filipino/s[2][3], before "Filipino" now came to be known as all of the modern citizens of the now sovereign independent Philippines. Spaniards born in the colonies of the New World that today comprises the Hispanic America are called criollos (individuals of full Spanish descent born in the New World).
Higher offices in Spanish America and the Spanish Philippines were held by peninsulares. Apart from the distinction of peninsulares from criollo, the castas system distinguished also mestizos of mixed Spanish and Amerindian ancestry in the Americas, and 'mestizos de español' (mixed Spanish and native Filipino (Spanish Filipino)), or 'tornatras' (mixed Spanish and Sangley Chinese (Chinese Filipino)) in the Philippines / Spanish East Indies, mulatos (of mixed Spanish and black ancestry), indios (Amerindians / Native Filipinos), zambos (mixed Amerindian and black ancestry) and finally negros. In some places and times, such as during the wars of independence, peninsulares or members of conservative parties were called depreciatively godos (meaning Goths, referring to the "Visigoths", who had ruled Spain and were considered the origin of Spanish aristocracy) or, in Mexico, gachupines.[4] Godos is still used pejoratively in the Canary Islands for the peninsular Spanish, and in Chile for Spaniards.[5]