An image from colonial South America shows that mestizos are the children of Spanish people and Indigenous people

Mestizo (meh-STEE-tzo) is a Spanish term for a person who is of mixed European (usually Spanish) and Amerindian ancestry.

Mestizos have existed since the time when Spain controlled much of what is now Latin America. A mestizo was usually the son of a Spanish father and a Native American mother. Mestizos form the largest part of the population in some Latin American nations, a large minority of mestizos makes up most of the population in Mexico, which is the Spanish-speaking nation with the largest population in the world.