"Mulata, Hija De Negro Y India": Afro-Indigenous Mulatos in Early Colonial Mexico (Section IV REGIONAL ISSUES‪)‬

In July of 1574, a sandal maker named Francisco Granados denounced his wife, Isabel Diaz, for being married twice. In his statement, he described both himself and Isabel as mulatos. However, he qualified her description further by pointing out that she was the daughter of an india. According to his account, the couple had lived as unwed lovers for four years before a near-death illness induced them to marry in Puebla. After their formal marriage in 1572, the couple lived as man and wife for about a year, eventually moving Mexico City. There they lived together for four months before Francisco was arrested for a murder he had committed previously. When he was released, they resumed married life for a few more months in the barrio of San Sebastian. Eventually, another shoemaker, named Parrales, told Francisco that Isabel had another husband. According to Parrales, many years before Isabel had been married to an indio named Pedro. (1) This may or may not have been news to Francisco. According to Isabel's statements, she was reticent to marry Francisco even as he lay in his deathbed because she did not know if her previous husband was still alive. She claimed that Francisco told her that he had heard from a man in Mexico that Pedro had died and that she could freely marry him. Unfortunately for Francisco, other witnesses provided testimony proving Pedro was still alive and that Francisco knew about the prior marriage when he proposed to Isabel. Ultimately, Isabel was convicted of bigamy and Francisco was tried as an accomplice for willfully leading Isabel into heresy. This case is hardly unique in the events it describes. Mobility, the vicissitudes of life, and personal changes-of-heart led many people to leave spouses and remarry in violation of church law. (2) Nevertheless, this case does provide some tantalizing and unique perspectives on interracial relationships in colonial Mexico. Isabel Diaz is both described as a mulata and the daughter of an india, a description that appears to be contradictory. In most official documentation of the time and in standard definitions into the present, mulato described an individual born to one African and one European parent. (3) In other parts of Latin America and in some official documents, the category of 'zambaigo' or 'zambo' was used to describe individuals of mixed African and indigenous descent. (4) However, this appellation was not incorporated into common usage in Mexico. (5) Yet, Francisco made no mistake in describing his wife as both the daughter of an india and as a mulata; rather, he was using the contemporary definition of mulato which placed individuals of European-African descent and African-indigenous descent within the same socio-racial category. Unfortunately for scholars, most colonial documentation does not provide enough detailed information about non-elite individuals to determine their specific ethnic ancestry. Consequently, although scholars have rioted the occasional usage of mulato to describe individuals of African-Indian descent, few scholars have investigated how this usage might complicate our understanding of the term 'mulatos,' the body of individuals so labeled, or what this might suggest for an understanding of race and casta in the colonial period.