ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the causes and manifestations of depopulation, as well as definitions of race and status, and how the Spanish fit the indigenous population into their definition of society. Conventional analysis identifies epidemics of old world diseases as the leading cause of the decline of the Indian populations living in the missions. Estimates for the contact populations of Texas and southern Arizona pose several problems. Only a small percentage of the Indians living in both areas came under Spanish control, and hence into the historical record. The Spanish historically defined social status and identity on the basis of birth and blood lines. Iberia evolved during the Middle Ages as a multi-ethnic society also divided along religious lines. The chapter concludes with a discussion of race and status, and the place of the indigenous population in the Spanish vision for a colonial society.
