Colonial authorities suspended racial hierarchy to secure viable settlements

Evidence

One indication of the official attitude toward European labor was the apparent willingness of the authorities to suspend the racial hierarchies of Iberia in exchange for the generating of viable colonial settlements. C. R. Boxer recounts that despite the vigor of “race-prejudice” during this period of Iberian history (“concentrated against the ‘Moors’ (e.g. Muslims) and the Jews, mainly for religious reasons”) and Africans (for their association with slavery), royal instructions and orders were sent out to the colonies in 1503 and 1514 encouraging inter-racial marriages between Europeans and Indians. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1895

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the chapter’s broader argument that racial categories were contingent and served colonial labor needs, echoing Ibram Kendi’s thesis that racist policy follows economic/political interest.