Could the caste divisions in Latin America be lessened?

Latin America has, or had, a caste system. At the top were the peninsulares, who came from Spain, then the creoles, who were fully white but were born in the colonies, then there were a variety of complex mixtures between races, then there were the Indians, then there were the blacks. This caste system remains evident and prominent in Latin American society, with caste divisions causing much conflict and change. The Latin American wars of independence, for instance, were caused by conservative creoles wanting to be equal to the peninsulares.

However, Europe held such divisions which were as large as these, yet those divisions fell apart over time. Could the same fate fall to the caste system in Latin America?
 

samcster94

Banned
Latin America has, or had, a caste system. At the top were the peninsulares, who came from Spain, then the creoles, who were fully white but were born in the colonies, then there were a variety of complex mixtures between races, then there were the Indians, then there were the blacks. This caste system remains evident and prominent in Latin American society, with caste divisions causing much conflict and change. The Latin American wars of independence, for instance, were caused by conservative creoles wanting to be equal to the peninsulares.

However, Europe held such divisions which were as large as these, yet those divisions fell apart over time. Could the same fate fall to the caste system in Latin America?
Well, it'd take some major social shift pre-Independence. Simply waiting a century longer didn't help Cuba.
 
Well, I'm not expert but it seems to me that these kinds of divisions lessen the more economically developed a country is. You can see that even today where (for example) it really isn't appropriate to say that Amerindians are naturally like children (which is not to say that there isn't still horrendous racism). Imagine how much less progress the US would have made in reducing racism if it had been as poor as most Latin American countries for most of its existence. So I would think that a PoD which allowed for much more economic development and liberal reform without the various destructive Latin American wars and infighting would be a good start. It helps that caste divisions could be quite flexible and based more on wealth and reputation than strict ancestry.

In light of all this, I would recommend killing off Napoleon in order to allow a Spain-Friendly Revolutionary French government to take power. Spain will be dependent on France for protection against British colonial depredation which will strengthen the Francophile reformists. Much more importantly, this avoids the utter disaster of Napoleons Spanish invasion. So we have reformists still in power, far more stability, and they even have somewhat of a boost in time to listen to more and more reformist pleas from the American colonies (which are growing in wealth and prominence). I know the stereotype is that Spain can't ever change and be better than OTL after the 16th century but I think the Spanish capability to adapt has been unfairly dismissed.
 
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