Métis (people)

Métis is a French term referring to children of ethnically mixed unions. In North America, Métis (with capitalization) are members of ethnic groups indigenous to Canada and parts of the United States who trace their descent to Indigenous peoples of the Americas and French , English, and Scottish. The Métis in Canada are recognized as indigenous people under the Constitution Act of 1982; they number 451,795 as of 2011. Smaller communities identifying as Métis exist in the U.S.

The word "métis" (originally from the French adjective métis: 1. something that is half of one thing and half of another, and 2. someone whose father and mother are of different races, or mixed-race) was first used in Europe in the early 1600s, with the spelling "mestis," and it appeared in a Portuguese publication in 1615, spelled "métice," in both cases referring to the children of mixed unions between Europeans and indigenous peoples in colonies worldwide. The term has since been used in the French language to refer to people with ethnically mixed ancestry. People who may be identified as "métis" live in many former French colonies today, including Guadeloupe in the Caribbean; sub-Saharan African countries like Senegal; North African Maghreb countries such as Algeria; and South-East Asian countries that were once part of French "Indochina".

In Latin America, a similar word is mestizo in Spanish-speaking countries, and in Portuguese-speaking countries, mestiço is also used. The English word mestee is a corruption of the Middle French mestis (the letters 's' both pronounced at the start of the Middle French period, and both silent at the end of the Middle French period).

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