Cholo

Cholo (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈtʃolo]) is a loosely defined term that has had various meanings relating to the connotation of people of indigenous heritage, who in many cases have Spanish blood (mestizos), or who have adopted elements of Spanish dress, language or culture. Its use has migrated from the initial negative ethnic designation as originated by Hispanic criollos in the 16th century. In sociological literature, it is one of castas, and refers to Mexican American gangsters (pandilleros). The precise usage of "cholo" has varied widely in different times and places. In modern American usage, it most often applies to the low-rider sub-culture manner of dress.

The term's use is first recorded in a Peruvian book published in 1609 and 1616, the Comentarios Reales de los Incas by Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. He writes (in Spanish) "The child of a Black male and an Indian female, or of an Indian male and Black female, they call mulato and mulata. The children of these they call cholo. Cholo is a word from the Windward Islands; it means dog, not of the purebred variety, but of very disreputable origin; and the Spaniards use it for insult and vituperation".

In Colonial Mexico, the terms cholo and coyote co-existed, indicating mixed Mestizo and Amerindian ancestry. Under the casta system of colonial Latin America, cholo originally applied to the children resulting from the union of a Mestizo and an Amerindian; that is, someone of three quarters Amerindian and one quarter Spanish ancestry. Other terms (mestizo, castizo, etc.) were used to denote other ratios of smaller or greater Spanish-to-Amerindian ancestry.

Cholo as an English-language term dates at least to 1851 when it was used by Herman Melville in his novel Moby-Dick, referring to a Spanish speaking sailor, possibly derived from the Windward Islands reference mentioned above. Isela Alexsandra Garcia of the University of California at Berkeley writes that the term can be traced to Mexico, where in the early part of the last century it referred to "culturally marginal" mestizos and Native American origin.

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