Mestizo (Portuguese: Mestiço; French: Métis; all from Late LatinMixticius, meaning "mixed") is a Spanish term that was used in the Spanish Empire to designate people of mixed European (Spanish) and Amerindian ancestry living in the region of Latin America. [1] In other regions and countries previously under Spanish, Portuguese and French colonial rule, variants of the term may also be in usage for people of other mixtures. In the Philippines, the term Mestizo originally bore the connotation of mixed Spaniard and Filipino, whereas nowadays the term is used to identify individuals who are mixed indigenous Austronesian and European or any other Foreign ancestry..
