What is Spanish Indian?

Question

My father told me my great, great grandmother was "spanish indian". What is that, exactly? Is it Spanish native or is there a group of Native Americans who are related to the Spanish?

Answer 1

There were Native Indians that traveled between the U.S and Mexico. At some point they stopped going back to the U.S. and just stayed in Mexico. I found reference to them while doing my own research. If I find the name of the tribe I will email you. Put yourself in my contacts. He could also mean Mestizo which part Spanish and and the indigenous people of the region your ancestors. If he's still alive ask him to clarify it for you.

Answer 2

It would be a Mesoamericano...someone either from one of the tribes along the border, such as the Yaqui, or those whose ancestors were not from one of the recognized tribes of the US, but instead from south of the border in one of the tribes that is indigenous to Mexico. It would include the Incas and Mayans, but also people like the Tarahumara and Huichol.

The nice part about tracing these people is that they were almost invariably Catholic and you just have to search for the Mexican parishes and Spanish missions that served them to find the baptismal, marriage and death records back to the 1500s.

Answer 3

A "Spanish Indian" is called a MESTIZO (pronounced like "mess-TEE-zo") and is basically a person of racially mixed ancestry, especially in Latin America. They are mixed American Indian and European--mainly Spanish or Portuguese.

Answer 4

Probably the natives of Latin America, modern day Mexico. Prime example of these people are the Aztecs

Answer 5

It means just what it says,although there should be a hyphen,as in,Spanish-Indian.The Native-Anmericans were here first& started mixing w/the spaniards