1. Spanish Social Structure

2. The Spanish government awarded encomiendas to Spanish nobels
So they had to work for them laborers to pay their debt. This amounted to slavery.
This was a land grant. Everyone living on the land had to pay the owner rent.
The native people living there had little concept of the idea of owning land, but had to pay their Spanish landlords high rents that they could not afford.

3. Native American laborers were used as field hands and minors

4. Many of the native peoples died off of European diseases.
Therefore the Spanish colonies began importing African slaves.

5. Over many generations unique cultures evolved as a result of the mixing of the various peoples;
-Europeans
-Native Americans
-Africans
-And later Asians

6. Add Black Indians to the bottom level.

7. Ethnic Make-up of the Americas

8. Famous Mestizos/Black Indians/etc.