Creole peoples facts for kids

Creole people are groups of people who came about during the time of colonies. They are often a mix of people from Europe and people from other parts of the world. This mixing is called creolisation. Creole groups are very different from each other. Many have created their own special identities over time. Sometimes, people think that creole languages appeared at the same time as creole identities, but these two things developed separately.

What "Creole" Means

The English word "creole" comes from the French word "créole." This word came from the Portuguese word "crioulo." "Crioulo" means a person, especially a servant, who was raised in someone's house. It comes from the Portuguese word "criar," which means "to raise or bring up." This is also where the English word "create" comes from.

You might hear similar words in other languages, like crioulo, criollo, creolo, kreyol, and kreol.

Many different groups of people have been called "Creole" throughout history. Here are some of them:

• Afro-Brazilian Crioulos
• Aku Krio people
• Atlantic Creoles
• Belizean Kriol people
• Cape Verdeans (Crioulos)
• Criollo people (Europeans born in Spanish colonies in the Americas)
• Fernandino Creole peoples
• Haitian Creole people
• Afro-Honduran Creoles
• Liberian Creole people
• Louisiana Creole people
• Mauritian Creole people
• Nigerian Creole people
• Seychellois Creole people
• Sierra Leone Creole people
• Surinamese Creole people

Creole People in the United States

Alaska's Kriol People

In Alaska, people who have both Alaska Native and Russian family roots are sometimes called "Creole" or "Kriol." In the late 1700s, Russian traders and Aleut and Alutiiq women had children together. These people became important in the economy of Russian Alaska.

Early American Colonies

In the early days of American colonies, children born to immigrants in places like the Chesapeake Colonies were sometimes called "Creole."

Louisiana's Creole Culture

In Louisiana, the word "Creole" describes people of any background who are descendants of early French and Spanish settlers. These settlers lived there before the United States bought the Louisiana region in 1803.

The term "Creole" first started in the Caribbean. It was used to tell people born in the French, Spanish, and Portuguese colonies apart from new arrivals born in Europe. In Louisiana, "Creole" first meant people of French and Spanish descent who were born there. This helped them stand out from new immigrants.

Later, the term grew to include people of mixed backgrounds. There were "French Creoles" (European roots) and "Creoles of Color" (mixed roots). Sometimes, people of African descent who were born in Louisiana were called "Black Creole." Spanish Creoles also existed, like the Isleños and Malagueños who still live in southern Louisiana.

Today, "Louisiana Creoles" refers to a wide group of people from all backgrounds who share French and Spanish roots. Some of their ancestors came directly from France or Spain. Others came from French and Spanish colonies in the Caribbean or Canada. Many Creole families came to Louisiana from Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) after the Haitian Revolution.

The Creole culture in Louisiana mixes European, Native American, and African influences. Many Creoles are Roman Catholic. They are influenced by French and Spanish traditions.

The traditional French Creole language is not as widely spoken today. However, some families work hard to keep it alive. It is still spoken in areas south of New Orleans, like St. James and St. John Parishes.

The term "Creole" is sometimes confused with "Cajuns" in Louisiana. Cajuns are descendants of French settlers from Canada (Acadians). While Cajuns are technically "creoles" in a broad sense, they usually identify as Cajuns. In the past, the difference between "Cajuns" and "Creoles" was less about race. Today, some people mistakenly think that all French-speaking Europeans are Cajun and all French-speaking Africans are Creole. This is not true. Creoles can be of any background and live in any area, rural or city.

Mississippi's Creole Communities

The Mississippi Gulf Coast has many Creole people, especially in towns like Pass Christian, Gulfport, and Biloxi. Here, "Creole" often means people with mixed French or Spanish and African American or Native American heritage. The French first settled this area. In 1720, Biloxi, Mississippi, was even the capital of French Louisiana.

Texas's Creole Presence

Some Creole people also live along the Texas Gulf Coast. You might find them in areas like Houston, Beaumont, and Port Arthur.

Creole People in Africa

Portuguese Africa

In Africa, people of mixed Portuguese and African descent are called crioulos. They formed several important ethnic groups. These include people in Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, Equatorial Guinea (especially Annobon), Ziguinchor (Casamance), Angola, and Mozambique.

Some of these groups still use the name crioulo or similar words:

• Cape Verde: The main group is called Kriolus or Kriols. Their language is also called "Creole".
• Guinea-Bissau: Crioulos
• São Tomé and Príncipe: Crioulos

Creole People in Former Spanish Colonies

In places that used to be Spanish colonies, the Spanish word criollo meant "native" or "local." It described people born in the colonies who were mostly of Spanish descent. The word also came to mean things special to the region, like "comida criolla" (local food).

The Spanish government often chose people born in Spain, called Peninsulares, for top jobs in the colonies. They often passed over the Criollos. The word criollo is where the French word creole comes from.

Spanish America

The Spanish colonies in the Americas had a system based on ancestry from the 1500s. By the 1800s, this unfair treatment, along with ideas from the American Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, led the Spanish American Criollos to fight against Spanish rule. With help from other groups, they fought in the Spanish American wars of independence (1810–1826). These wars ended with the Spanish Empire in America breaking into many independent countries.

Spanish Philippines

In the Spanish Philippines, mixing of different groups happened mostly during the Spanish colonial period (1500s to 1800s). The Spanish system of social classes also existed there.

People of pure Spanish descent who were born in the Spanish Philippines were originally called "Filipinos." They were also known as Insulares (islanders) or Criollos (locals). Over time, the word "Filipino" grew to include all the native people of the Philippines.

The social differences that still exist in the Philippines today started with this Spanish colonial system. However, this system was officially ended after the Philippines became independent from Spain in 1898.

Creole People in the Caribbean

In many parts of the Southern Caribbean, "Creole people" refers to people of mixed European and African descent who were born on the islands. Over time, people from Asia also married into these groups. They formed a common culture based on their shared experiences in islands colonized by the French, Spanish, and English.

A typical Creole person from the Caribbean might have French or Spanish family roots, mixed with African and Native American. When workers from Asia came to the islands, Creole people also married people of Tamil, Lebanese, Indian, and Chinese descent. This was common in places like Guadeloupe. The foods and cultures there are a mix of all these influences.

Creole Languages in the Caribbean

"Creole," "Kreyòl," or "Kweyol" also refers to the creole languages spoken in the Caribbean. These include Antillean Creole, Barbadian Creole, Belizean Creole, Jamaican Patois, Haitian Creole, Bahamian Creole, Trinidadian Creole, and Guyanese Creole.

People speak Antillean Creole on islands like:

• St. Lucia
• Martinique
• Dominica
• Guadeloupe
• St. Martin
• Saint-Barthélemy
• French Guiana
• Trinidad and Tobago

Creole People in the Indian Ocean

In the islands of the southwest Indian Ocean, the meaning of "creole" changes depending on the island. In Mauritius, "Creole" refers to people of mixed African, French, and Indian descent. The term means the same for people in Réunion and Seychelles.

In all three places, "creole" also refers to the new languages that came from French and include words from other languages.

Images for kids

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  Creole in a Red Turban (c. 1840), by Jacques Amans

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  Signs in three languages on Cafe Kreol in Cape Verde.

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  "A Creole Night at the French Opera House" in New Orleans, LA. From Harper's Weekly, 1866.

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  A Creole woman with a black servant in New Orleans.

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  A free woman of color with her daughter; late 1700s painting from New Orleans.

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  A portrait of a Creole family in Sierra Leone, early 1900s.

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  Women at the Seychelles Creole Festival in Victoria celebrate their heritage.

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  Criollos in Guatemala celebrating independence from Spain in 1821.

See also

In Spanish: Criollo para niños