Peninsulares
In the context of the Spanish Empire, a peninsular (, pl. "peninsulares") was a Spaniard born in Spain residing in the New World, Spanish East Indies, or Spanish Guinea. Nowadays, the word "peninsulares" makes reference to Peninsular Spain and in contrast to the "islanders" ("isleños"), from the Balearic or Canary Islands or the territories of Ceuta and Melilla. A equivalent to the Spanish "peninsulares" in the 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""," 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 wholly European Spanish descent, but 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 deprecatively "godos" (meaning "Goths", referring to the "Visigoths", who had ruled Spain and were considered the origin of Spanish aristocracy) or, in Mexico, "gachupines". "Godos" is still used pejoratively in the Canary Islands for the peninsular Spanish, and in Chile for Spaniards. Colonial officials  at the highest levels arrived from Spain to fulfill their duty to govern Spanish colonies in Latin America and the Philippines. They defended Cádiz's monopoly on trade, upsetting the "criollos", who turned to contraband with British and French colonies, especially in areas away from the main ports of call for the "Flota de Indias". They worked to preserve centralized imperial power and sometimes acted as agents of patrol.