Why arent Mexicans considered native americans?

In my opinion, Mexicans are Native Americans. But in the US, people act as if they are totally seperate ethnic groups for some reason. Why is that?

Historically, many of the western states of the US, mainly the southwestern states, but as far north as Nevada and Utah, were all a part of Mexico. The native american southwest tribes (apache, anasazi, pueblo, navajo, yaqui, many more, etc), all once lived under Mexican rule, and if Mexico kept those US states, those native americans would no longer be considered native americans in US textbooks, but would be considered Mexicans nowadays.

There obviously is a connection between the US natives of the west and people in Northern Mexico.

Before the Europeans settled the Americas, there was no border between the US and Mexico, and especially considering how close the southwest states and Mexico are geographically, there is no doubt that many Native American tribes also existed in Mexico, and vice versa.

Obviously central americans and south americans, and also people from southern mexico, despite having (at least partial or mixed) ancestry with indigenous american people, should not be labeled native americans. They have no connection whatsoever to US native americans-they are part of totally separate tribes (like Aztecs) and come from totally seperate georgraphic regions.

But why arent Mexicans who live in the regions closer to the US, considered native americans? Some would argue, "it's for political reasons, those lands are under Mexican rule now, not US, and native american means native to the US". But that arguement doesnt hold ground to me. Here's why.

Some of my friends have some Iroqoius ancestry from Canada, but they consider themselves native americans, despite also technically being "Canadian", because Iroqoius are also a well known native american US tribe. Im not denying that they have native canadian ancestry (and are native canadians), but the fact that their tribe also exists in the US doesnt change the fact that they are also technically native americans and should be considered such.

Shouldnt the same be true about people with Mexican ancestry? Why are they viewed as a seperate group from native americans, when they technically are not only related groups, but come from the same tribes?

 

I think Mexicans are ancestrally regarded as being of Native American and Spanish ancestry (Mestizo). Unlike Native American tribes Mexico is recognized as a distinct country. They are Hispanic because they speak Spanish and have Spanish cultural traditions. But racially speaking I've never heard it denied that Mexicans are part Native American. In my Spanish class in high school a Hispanic student (from Ecuador I think) asked the teacher if Hispanics should be considered Native American and she (White Hispanic) said they were mixed. That's how I think they are commonly regarded.

 

Why are Mexicans considered mixed Spanish and Native, if intermarrying has historically happened with all groups?

 

I think you're misunderstanding or even misusing the terms.

The First Peoples that came over to America did so roughly around ten to twelve thousand years ago over the bridge that existed between Russian and Alaska.

Mexicans have only been in North America since about the time of Columbus. America was claimed for Spain. After Columbus the primary explorers were English and Spanish, with John Cabot for the English, Ponce De Leon for the Spanish.Vasco Nunez Balboa, Ferdinand Magellan, Hernando De Soto,

In other words, Mexicans came over by ship, the First Peoples came over by land.

When they did come over they did interbreed with the indigenous people.

 

I am 1/4 Mexican an so therefore I assume I have some native American blood in me. I am fine with just Mexican, because it doesn't matter. People are too race obsessed and i don't think native Americans need be treated as a special class. When some people say, we're all immigrants, others will pipe up, nuh-uh, not native Americans. Yes, too, native Americans. They immigrated here too. So they don't deserve to be treated differently from anyone from any country.

 

Mexicans arrived to North American many centuries before Spaniards... in I Century, mexican built Teotihuacan, they believed in Quetzalcoatl (the plumed serpent). About 1168, aztecs (came from what nowadays is the US border) appeared in Valley of Mexico (they workshiped Huitzilopochtli) and in 1325 they established Tenochtitlan (What spaniards named Ciudad de Mexico) on the lake into the valley of Mexico.

Of course, mexican are american natives.. they are in America from 5.000 years ago?

Are you insinuating that the Aztecs, Toltecs, trasatlecs and other Mexican tribes were brought to Mexico by the Spaniards?

Who interbreeded? Mexican with indigenous... please... seriousness! Mexican didn´t came from Spain... in the reference wrote by Bernal Díaz del Castillo "The True History of the Conquest of New Spain" (Spaniards named New Spain not only what nowadays is Mexico but also what today is the West of USA)..you can find the names and origins of the Spaniards who conquered New Spain ... none of them came from "Mexico"! none were of Mexican "nature".. you can find the information in the chapter: De los valerosos capitanes y fuertes soldados que pasamos dende la isla de Cuba con el venturosos y muy animoso capitan don Hernando Cortes, que despues de ganado Mexico fue marques del Valle y tuvo otros ditados. (A record of the gallant captains and stout and valiant soldiers who left the island of Cuba with the daring and courageous Captain Don Hernando Cortes who after conquering Mexico became Marquis del Valle and had other titles).

http://ebooks.cambridge.org/chapter...7013&cid=CBO9780511687013A039&tabName=Chapter

Any, not even one, of the soldiers took New Spain born in Mexico or was mexican...save you think Bilbao, Madrid, Badajoz, Sevilla or Barcelona are in Mexico....

So mostly Mexican are american natives although some of them were mixed with spaniards and a minority are spaniards by the blood.

 

Well, Amazing Sam's Ego, technically you are wrong. Mexicans could be called Native Mesoamericans, along with every other person down to the Colombian border.

 

In spite of a smiggin of chippewawawawa Even without it, I would still be a native american, I WAS "BORN" here,

and the same goes for everone who has been born in either North, South, or Centeral America, we are "all" Americans, (Native if born here)

 

Native American means native to the US. Many of the tribes in northern mexico are the same tribes as the tribes of the western US. So while they are of course mesoamericans, why arent they considered "Native Americans"?

 

It is a simple question. Because they aren´t from US... and US use the word America mistakenly as a synonym for the word US but America not is a word for US not even was written in "America".So Mexican are american natives (no matter how they are classified by US authorities). American natives you can find from Canada to Chili or Argentine...

By the way, the word America was invented by the german cartographer Martin Waldseemüller in Cosmographiae introductio (1507).. not Spaniards, not British used the word America, they prefered the word West Indies.But german inmigrants brought the word America to the New World and like german inmigrated to US more than to Brazil or Argentina, nowadays many people associated the word America with US... and that´s the reason because Mexican are classified like Mesoamerican and not like "native american"... If Spaniards or British had used the word America instead of West Indies... maybe now mexican indians would have been named "native american"....but really they are native american!

 

What is the ultimate point of this inquiry? It refers to indigenous peoples for MODERN day US boundaries.

What is a Hispanic? A politically contrived term to avoid having to distinguish nationalities? A term that encompasses ALL Spanish-speaking peoples.

( Derived from Spain.)

I can tell you, for example, that White Cubans with direct lineage to European ancestry resent being so- categorized along with Mexicans and Central and South American Indian tribes.

" . . . Other objections to Native American—whether capitalized or not—include a concern that it is often understood to exclude American groups outside the continental US (e.g., Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico), and indigenous groups in South America, Mexico and Canada. The word American is sometimes questioned because the peoples referred to resided in the Americas before they were so named.

"As of 1995, according to the US Census Bureau, 50% of people who identified as indigenous preferred the term American Indian, 37% preferred Native American, and the remainder preferred other terms or had no preference.[17]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_name_controversy

 

I have an even better question: Why are Mexicans referred to as White on their birth certificates? I've lived among Mexican people all my life and I've never met one who considers their self to be White. I'm wondering if it's because of the census. By calling Mexicans White it looks like there are lots more White people than there really are. But, I could be wrong. What do you all think?

 

I think that may be one reason they are wrongly labelled as white. Perhaps another reason is to try and "convert" them to whiteness so to speak. Like a membership of an exclusive club with white Europeans at the top. It s clearly a racist agenda, whites are obsessed with their little invention called race

 

Okay, let's get things straightened out here.

North America was never "claimed" for Spain - just the islands where Columbus landed.

Mexican comes from the natives who called themselves Majicans.They were a mixture of Aztec and other groups that lived in the central basin of what was called Majica. It was thusly turned to Mexico in Spanish and carries down to this day.

The Spaniards who came to Mexico in 1509 conquered the natives and called their area New Spain. The various states were given names close to the local tongues.

The part of North America that was claimed by Spain was Florida, parts of Texas, New Mexico, and most of coastal California. They even had a claim to a fort in the Vancouver area.

The remainder of North America was claimed by the English and French.

Mexico has classes of its people.

Criollos are those who maintain pure Spanish blood.
Mestizos are those with native Majican and Spanish blood. As there were a lot of different native tribes and races, they are also included in this category
Mulatos are those of mixed native and African blood.
Crusados are those of any mixed blood
Indios are those with only true native blood.

If you want more information on this check out the link in my signature. Oops! They made me remove my signature. Go to my profile.

 

Bravo. Finally someone has got it right. Anyone born here is a Native American. Now why don't we start acting like it?

 

a better question is why is any person considered white.(NONE ARE). skin color goes from nearly transparent (albino) to ebony. and tho certain races are predominently a different color than brown (the dominent color), you can find nearly every hue in all three basic races

 

Whites are not a race, there are three basic races, mongoid, negroid, and caucoid. and has to do with bodily structure, not color. and predominently the head shape. whether they are round,(mongoid) oval, (caucoid), or square or blocky (negroid).

 

yes, that sounds all very scientific.

Not.

 

I guess it is a way of classification for the indigenous people. Sort of the genus, family style of order as animal species. Can I say indigenous people or will I suffer the wrath of Khan?

 

Great question, Doniston. Race is really just a social construct. I read somewhere that there is very little genetic difference between a blue eyed blonde Swede and a jet Black African. Wouldn't it be nice if we could get rid of the racial classifications once and for all? But, that won't hardly happen. There are too many people who benefit from it.

 

Why dont the native americans who live in the land Mexico once owned (Utah, Nevada, Arizona natives like Shoshone and Navajo), have a Spanish culture, if they were once a part of Mexico?

 

Because the land was Spanish in name only. Very few Catholic missionaries moved into those lands and almost no soldiers went there to claim territory.

Like most things, claim was made quite vaguely - from the mouth of ... to the headwaters of ... and all in between.

At one time, Spain claimed territory in present day British Colombia but, as no great effort was made to convert the locals and teach them Spanish, there's nothing left of that effort.

 

If the Spanish didnt control that land, why was it a part of Mexico until the mid 1800s, until the US bought it in the Mexican Cession?