Creole
by Lillian Bonar
Essay: Creole
Pages: 11
Rating: 3 stars
Download Links:
• Creole.pdf
• Creole.doc
Creole
What is a Creole? The word Creole means many things to many people. It derives from the Latin word “Creare,”
meaning “to beget” or “create.” The Webster dictionary says a Creole is a “white person descended from the
French or Spanish settlers of Louisiana and the Gulf States and preserving their characteristic speech and culture.”
Creoles, a term first used in the 16th century in Latin America to distinguish the offspring of European settlers
from Native Americans, blacks, and later immigrant groups. In colonial America the designally originally applied to
the American-born descendants of European-born settlers. The term has since acquired varying meanings in
different regions.
In the United States, the state of Louisiana has a diverse Creole population. White Creoles are the French-speaking
descendants of early French or Spanish settlers. Black Creoles are generally the French-speaking Louisianians of
mixed race, once constituted a separate group, but have now largely assimilated into the black Creole population.
These people have their own culture and customs and even a composite language derived from the French. In
Latin America the term may refer to people of direct Spanish extraction or just to members of families whose
ancestry goes back to the colonial period. In the West Indies the word Creole is used to identify descendants of
any European settlers. (Encarta Encyclopedia 226).
The Spanish introduced the word as Criollo, and during Louisiana’s colonial period (1699-1803) the evolving word
Creole generally referred to persons of African or European heritage born in the New World. Creoles can mean
anything from individuals born in the New Orleans with French and Spanish ancestry to those who ...
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