Zambo

Zambos are persons of black and Indian parentage and who generally occupied a lowly social status in colonial Latin America.

The high incidence of mestizaje (interracial sexual relations) in 16th-century Latin America led to the development of a complex system of racial classifications used by Spaniards. In addition to zambo, other terms used to distinguish among racially mixed persons included castizo (mestizo-white mixture), mestizo (Indian-white mixture), and mulatto (Spanish-black mixture).

Whether slave or free, all blacks in areas settled by the Spanish in the New World endured restrictions on their personal autonomy. Although some slaves eventually purchased their freedom from their owners, as freedmen they continued to be treated in ways consistent with their inferior social status by comparison with persons of non-African parentage. In addition to restrictions on a slave’s right to travel at night, carry arms, and employ Indians in his service, one law in New Spain, for example, barred all persons of African descent (slaves, freedmen, mulattoes, and zam-bos) from wearing imported fabrics or dressing in a characteristically Spanish way. Such laws worked to define a social hierarchy with pure-blood Spaniards at the top, Indians someplace in the middle, and blacks at the bottom.

Colonial Spanish society regarded the child of a black slave woman and an Indian male as a slave. However, a child born to an Indian mother and black slave father generally lived among Indians and paid a head tax to the colonial bureaucracy under the same provision that demanded tribute or offerings from members of the indigenous population. Still, all restrictions placed on blacks applied typically to zambos as well. Thus, Spanish society denied zambos the rights to attend school and to hold religious or political office and banned them from certain industries altogether.

During the early years of conquest and settlement, the ratio of black male slaves to black female slaves was quite considerable. As a result, a sizeable number of black males engaged in sexual relationships with Indian woman. Not surprisingly, as the population of Spanish settlements in the New World grew during the 16th century, so, too, did the number of zambos and other mixed-race persons. The Spanish sought to curb this trend by placing sanctions on conjugal relations between blacks and nonblacks even while they accepted marriages between Spaniards and Indians.

Some black slaves, either through revolt or escape, fled from areas of Spanish settlement. Many escapees took refuge in outlying areas and went on to build lives for themselves among indigenous peoples. During the early 16th century the zambo descendants of fugitive slaves and members of Manabi and Mantux tribes in present-day Colombia secured themselves as tribal leaders in a settlement they founded, El Portete. Aware that the area represented a haven for fugitive slaves, after several failed efforts the Spanish managed to capture El Portete in 1556. However, through reliance on guerrilla tactics, the zambo leaders held onto control until 1598, when they finally acknowledged the Spanish Crown’s authority. Despite this, in a real sense they retained much of their autonomy and rule of the area.

Further reading: Irene Diggs, “Color in Colonial Spanish America,” Journal of Negro History 38:4 (1953): 403-427; Claudio Esteva-Fabregat, Mestizaje in Ibero-America, trans. John Wheat (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1995); Magnus Morner, Race Mixture in the History of Latin America (Boston: Little, Brown, 1967); Leslie B. Rout, Jr., The African Experience in Spanish America: 1502 to Present Day (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976).

—Kimberly Sambol-Tosco

Zumarraga, Juan de (1468-1548) religious leader The first bishop and archbishop of New Spain, Juan de Zumarraga was instrumental in establishing the agenda and structure of the Catholic Church in Spanish America.

Zumarraga was born in Durango, in the Basque country of Spain, in 1468. He took the vows of the Franciscan order at Valladolid and remained an influential figure in the Spanish church. In 1527, shortly after the conquest of Mexico, Charles V appointed Zumarraga the bishop of New Spain and protector of the Indians. He arrived with members ofthe first audiencia of Mexico City in 1528. Upon reaching the colony, he became appalled at the actions the CONQUiSTADORes were taking against the Natives. He was particularly horrified at the institution of the encomienda, feeling that conquistadores were using this institution not to Christianize the Natives but rather to exploit them. He was also concerned that the audiencia was not actively protecting the Natives and was too quick to charge them with the serious crime of heresy. By 1529 he excommunicated the judges of the audiencia and sent a strongly worded letter of protest to the king. The king responded by dissolving the audiencia and appointing a new panel to take its place.

After 1533 Zumarraga worked diligently to organize the colonial church. He pushed for the church to become active in providing social services, including public health, education, and charity. He established a good working relationship with the first viceroy, ANTONIO DE Mendoza, and worked with him in establishing the famous College of Santiago in Tlatelolco, a religious school for sons of the Native nobility that under BERNARDINO DE Sahagun created such important works as the Florentine Codex. He also founded other schools for both boys and girls as well as hospitals in the capital. Again with Mendoza, he oversaw the foundation of New Spain’s first university and brought in the colony’s first PRINTING PRESS. With royal support he established the INQUISITION in New Spain, although he was instrumental in removing Natives from its jurisdiction. He argued that the Natives were “childlike” and should not be responsible for their actions. Of the 131 heresy trials he presided over, only 13 involved Natives, and these usually involved cases that contained dangerous political or social overtones. Lamentably, he also presided over the destruction of many Native codices, arguing that they were heretical in nature.

Throughout his time in office, Zumarraga worked to create stability and a degree of social justice. He died in 1548, shortly after being raised to the office of archbishop of New Spain.

Further reading: Richard Greenleaf, Zumarraga and the Mexican Inquisition, 1536-1543 (Washington, D. C.: Academy of Franciscan History, 1961); Michael C. Meyer and William L. Sherman, The Course of Mexican History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995).

—Scott Chamberlain