Iberian Caste System 18th Century

In the eighteenth century, the Iberian Crowns set up a system to categorize the different races in society. This system was known as the caste system. The caste system was a hierarchy of race. Not only did a person’s race determine their place in the caste system, but their education, clothing and wealth determined it as well. If a person was of low caste, they could not attend the university, wear silk, own weapons, or even become priests (87). The caste system began with only a few general categories that later turned into more categories due to the offspring of two people of different castes. Though people were born into a certain caste, successful people in low caste were able to purchase an official exemption that classified them as legally