White, red, and black had mingled to such an extent that the bulk of the settled population became half-caste.

Only in the more temperate regions of the far north and south, where the aborigines were comparatively few or had disappeared altogether, did the whites remain racially distinct.

Socially the Indian and the negro counted for little.
They constituted the laboring class on whom all the burdens fell and for whom advantages in the body politic were scant.

Legally the Indian under Spanish rule stood on a footing of equality with his white fellows, and many a gifted native came to be reckoned a force in the community, though his social position remained a subordinate one.

Most of the negroes were slaves and were more kindly treated by the Spaniards than by the Portuguese.
Though divided among themselves, the Europeans were everywhere politically dominant.