Residents of New Spain maintained a lively interest in each person's racial lineage. These 18th century paintings illustrate three forms of racial mixture common in the 16th century. In the first painting, a Spanish man and an Indian woman have a mestizo son.

In the fourth (above right), a Spanish man and woman of African descent have a mulatto son; in the fifth (below right), a Spanish woman and a mulatto man have a morisco daughter. 

The many racial permutations of parents caused residents of New Spain to develop an elaborate vocabulary of ancestry. The child of a morisco and a Spaniard was a chino; the child of a chino and an an Indian was a salta abas; the child of a salta abas and a mulatto was a lobo, and so on. Hints at the meanings of these racial categories can be seen in the clothing depicted in the paintings.