page_title: Criollo people
section_title: Modern colloquial uses
hierarchical_section_title: Criollo people / Modern colloquial uses
caption_attribution_description: La Mulata. Entre Villa de Cura y San Juan de los Morros. Musica de Venezuela, Musica de Colombia
context_page_description: Criollo are Latin Americans who are of sole or of mostly Spanish descent; such ancestry distinguishes them both from multi-racial Latin Americans and from Latin Americans of post-colonial European immigrant origin.
  Historically, they were a social class in the hierarchy of the overseas colonies established by Spain beginning in the 16th century, especially in Hispanic America. They were locally-born people–almost always of Spanish ancestry, but also sometimes of other European ethnic backgrounds. Although criollos were legally Spaniards, in practice they ranked below the Iberian-born peninsulares. Nevertheless, they had preeminence over all the other populations: Amerindians, enslaved Africans, and peoples of mixed descent. According to the casta system, a criollo could have up to 1/8 Amerindian ancestry without losing social place. Criollos supposedly sought their own identity through the indigenous past, of their own symbols and the exaltation of everything related to the American one. Their identity was strengthened as a result of the Bourbon reforms of 1700, that changed the Spanish Empire's policies towards its colonies and led to tensions between criollos and peninsulares.
context_section_description: The word criollo retains its original meaning in most Spanish-speaking countries in the Americas. In some countries, however, the word criollo has over time come to have additional meanings, such as "local" or "home-grown". For instance, comida criolla in Spanish-speaking countries refers to "local cuisine", not "cuisine of the criollos". In Portuguese, crioulo is also a racist slang term referring to blacks.
  In some countries, the term is also used to describe people from particular regions, such as the countryside or mountain areas:
  In Argentina, natives of the northwestern provinces are called criollos by their porteño counterparts from Buenos Aires. They are typically seen as more traditionally Hispanic in culture and ancestry than the melting pot of non-Hispanic European influences (particularly Italian and German) that define the people and culture of Buenos Aires. "Misa criolla" is the name of a very popular mass composed by Ariel Ramirez, and sung by Mercedes Sosa among others.
  In Perú, criollo is associated with the syncretic culture of the Pacific Coast, a mixture of Spanish, African, indigenous, and Gitano elements. Its meaning is, therefore, more similar to that of "Louisiana Creole people" than to the criollo of colonial times.
  In Puerto Rico, natives of the town of Caguas are usually referred to as criollos; professional sports teams from that town are also usually nicknamed Criollos de Caguas ("Caguas Creoles"). Caguas is located near Puerto Rico's Cordillera Central mountain area.
  In Venezuela, criollo is associated with the national culture of Venezuela. Pabellón criollo is Venezuela's national dish and the baseball Corporación Criollitos de Venezuela is a seeder to the well renowned Venezuelan Professional Baseball League among other examples. Música Criolla is a way to refer to Venezuelan traditional music i.e. joropo. In Venezuela, novelists like Rómulo Gallegos with his novel Doña Bárbara, Pedro Emilio Coll, and Luis Manuel Urbaneja Achelpohl with the novel Peonía were major exponents of the Criollismo movement. Criollo also often refers to a mongrel dog, or something traditional to the country or its citizens.
  In Cuba and Colombia, the word Criollo has similar meanings with those of Venezuela.
caption: Image shows Venezuelan musicians performing Música llanera (música criolla).
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-H5", "Image DateTime": "2008:05:25 15:30:15", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "192", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0]", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:05:25 15:30:15", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:05:25 15:30:15", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode, return light detected", "EXIF FocalLength": "6", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2048", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1536", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}