Sierran Creole people

Sierran Creole people (: Créoles de Sierra, : Criolloserranos) are a ethnic group, who have ancestry from African (primarily  and ), European ( and ),, and sometimes Asian ( and ) ethnic groups. Many Sierran Creoles are descendants from inhabitants of colonial Sierra during the period of Spanish and Mexican rule, and the Channel Islands when it was under French control, as well as the and Haitian  who immigrated to Sierra during the late 19th-century. The term creole was and is still used today in Sierra to refer to Sierrans of multiracial descent, although biracial Sierrans may or may not be considered Creole (a notable example are the Sierran Hapas). Sierran Creoles are predominantly and. They are counted as one of the "Big Five" (including the Sierran Jacobites) constituent groups in Sierra who are primarily Catholic.

In the 18th-century, hundreds of French colonists settled the Channel Islands, while Spaniard soldiers and missionaries lived along the Sierran mainland coasts. Over the years, a new race of people, known as the, emerged from the intermarriages between the colonists and the indigenous natives. During the Mexican period, thousands of white Anglo-Americans and moved to Sierra, in search of settlement and economic opportunity. Some people from these groups married into the mestizo families, and became known as the creoles under the casta system. In addition, more and more families of the French Channeliers moved into the mainland, primarily in the Gold Coast, due to land and water shortages in the Channels. After the Anglo-American California Republic gained independence in 1848, the growing Anglophone community soon became the majority, threatening the cultural integrity of the Hispanophones and Francophones. As such, the emerging Creole community often lived in urban, where the Sierran Creole culture was developed and preserved from the confluences of outside forces.

The Sierran Creoles faced widespread discrimination and even persecution under the California Republic. Generally darker-skinned, Catholic (as opposed to Protestant), and largely French or Spanish-speaking, the Creoles were labeled as outcasts and perpetual foreigners, and were largely shut out from political and economic opportunities. Despite this, the Creole community was able to flourish within their neighborhoods and communities, which the Californian government tolerated, albeit under tense conditions. The brought in new waves of immigration from not just Anglo-America and Europe, but Latin America and Asia as well. Although the majority of prospectors returned home penniless, the few that acquired riches, and chose to remain in California, did so by settling throughout the country, and some in the Creole communities.

By the time the Kingdom of Sierra was formed just ten years after the gold rush, a small class of affluent, middle-class Creoles emerged, particularly in the Francophone city of Grands Ballons. Although the Creoles continued to experience prejudice by the new government, local leaders gained legal victories which expanded Creole rights at the community level, and defended Creole culture from suppression. Politically, the new Creole class aligned themselves with the Royalists, united together in their common support for the Catholic Monarchy and inclusive economic policies that reflected urban issues. The arrival of Louisiana Creoles and African Americans during and after the helped reinvigorate and strengthen the Sierran Creole community, thereby solidifying the group as a formidable and cohesive sociopolitical force. Although the Creoles embraced the political advancements made during the 1900s Sierran Cultural Revolution, the majority of its people resisted assimilation to the "new culture", creating a cultural divide between the Creoles and the Hapa-led "new culturalists" (consisting mainly of whites and East Asians).

Today, Sierran Creoles mainly inhabit the Southwest Corridor region of Sierra and are particularly concentrated along the Saintiana (also known as the "Creole Coast" and not to be confused with the nickname Santa Ana for the Orange city of ), which includes areas along the Gold Coast's and, and northwestern Orange. Another common description of the Creoles' primary range includes coastal communities between the cities of and. Their presence has helped shape the local culture of the area, as well as the nation due to their prominence around the Kingdom's capital in Porciúncula. Despite a history of economic disadvantage and discrimination, Sierran Creoles have contributed to artistic, scientific, political, social, musical, and educational movements in the past. March was designated as the official Sierran French Creole Appreciation Month in 2007, honoring Creole advancements to Sierran culture.

Although there has never been any formal census conducted for the Sierran Creole people, the Sierran government estimates that roughly 15% of native-born Sierrans had Creole ancestry and that as much as 45% of multicultural Sierrans would be qualified as Creole according to historic Sierran casta system. Increasingly, Creoles have lobbied to be included as a separate ethnic category by the Sierra Royal Bureau of Census, and are the second-largest group after Hispanics, who self-identify with "Other race" under current census definitions.

Early Franco-Spanish colonial period
The term "Creole" was first applied by the French and Spanish colonial governments for ethnic French and Spaniards who were born in the New World instead of Europe. Although Spain controlled virtually all of modern-day Sierra as well as western North America, it shared condominium with France over the Channel Islands, where the majority of the region's European colonists (most of whom were French) settled and lived. The French arrived during the late 18th-century, and initially included French government representative and soldiers. Orphaned ' (The King's Daughters) and later, ' (Casquette girls) helped increase the colonial population in the Channels dramatically. Due to geographic isolation, the French spoken on the Channel Islands is very similar to the French spoken in Metropolitan France during the 18th century, albeit with significant influence from Spanish, and subsequent languages that came into contact with the early French Channeliers (chiefly English).

As intermarriages between European whites and the local Amerindians became more frequent (predominantly between European men and Amerindian women), a new racial class known as the  became prominent in the region. While "Creole" was still applied to both the "racially pure" whites and the mestizos, European-born whites became distinguished as and were nominally ranked higher than the New World-born whites. The Spanish colonial test of  was implemented, which was a system of determinants used to test racial purity and admixture. The system originated in the Iberian Peninsula, as a means to separate Spaniards who had Jewish or Moor (Muslim) heritage. In colonial Sierra, one's racial background was very important in the casta system, and could either expand or limit one's social mobility in the hierarchy.

Spanish colonial period
In 1810, the first Haitian émigrés and  began arriving to Alta California. Escaping the persecution and turmoil that occurred in the aftermath of the, hundreds of these Francophone immigrants settled primarily along the Gold Coast, as well as the Channel Islands. The majority of these immigrants arrived by foot in caravans, and followed the from  and other locations from, as well as present-day Brazoria to Porciúncula. Predominantly black, they were the first major African community in that particular region of North America. They naturally gravitated towards the Francophones who were already in Sierra, and cross-cultural interaction further contributed to the growing complexity of the Creoles. Although they faced some resistance by the colonists and legal discriminations by the government, they were permitted to settle the lands as Spanish citizens since they were Catholic. Escaped and freed slaves also immigrated to Sierra in search of refuge and sanctuary from the rest of slaveholding Anglo-America. Such slaves were guaranteed passage only if they agreed to convert to Catholicism, learned Spanish, and join a few years of service in the Spanish military if they were able-bodied males. Although slavery was still legal in New Spain, it was uncommon in Alta California. Slave trade itself was banned in 1820, when King decreed it in a treaty with Great Britain, another country which had opted to ban slavery entirely. Nonetheless, the Spanish government generally honored settling slaveholders' rights to continue owning and using their own slaves. The government did not typically guarantee recapturing escaped slaves however, and thus, there were numerous cases of slaveholders inadvertently giving freedom to their slaves by moving them to nominally free land. did exist however, and was still practiced. Some travelers along the Old Spanish Trail came as, who had to work for their contractors in Alta California, in order to pay off the costs of the trip, though such contracts typically did not last any longer than five years. This political environment was ideal for supporting a free black and colored population, as well as the descendants of interracial relationships, who were known as. Interactions between the mestizos and mulattos added newer dimensions of racial admixture, paralleling similar demographic patterns in other parts of Latin America. Towards the end of Spanish rule in Sierra, the Creole population grew to the point of outnumbering the white Peninsulars and the Criollos. Although this was not a matter of serious concern to the Spanish government, Spanish political leaders remained firm on the casta system and continued to bar people of color and the Creoles from most bureaucratic positions and other vessels of power. However, the Spanish government permitted men of color to purchase and own their own land, and on occasion, gave large grants of ranchos to more affluent Creole men.

Around this time, the French word créole was selectively distinguished in context from the Spanish word criollo. Créole was now almost exclusively reserved for those of mixed ancestry, particularly if they possessed noticeable degrees of phenotypic features typical of Africans or Amerindians. The distinction between créole and criollo (which both mutually meant and translated to creole) was also created as the French language was the overwhelming first language of the Creole population, and thus, the community itself had referred to itself first and foremost as créoles. In contrast, criollo was still used by the Spanish government to refer to white colonists who had no known or perceived black or Amerindian ancestry. This distinction was evident in both languages, with either versions of the term used and understood consciously as different in reference to the groups.

The social standing and prestige that some Creole families acquired were improved by relaxed laws surrounding the casta system. The Spanish government no longer restricted people of color from purchasing or receiving land grants from the government, and encouraged prospective buyers to build their own homes to support the growing population.

Mexican period


In 1821, Mexico gained its after over a decade of conflict that coincided with the. While Alta California was too distant from much of the conflict, the majority of its civilian population, including the Creoles, were sympathetic to the independence movement. Although there is little documentation of Afro-Mexican involvement during the Mexican War of Independence, there were few cases of the local Creole population volunteering in the military effort.

Compared to the Spanish imperial government, the Mexican government was less discriminatory towards the Creole population. Seeking to break up the monopoly of land control from the Spanish missions, the Mexican government made it easier for individuals to claim land grants. Over a million of acres were repossessed by the Mexican government from the Church, and the Mission Indians who worked at these missions were released from servitude. These changes allowed better opportunities for the Creoles to become property owners. Claiming land itself was relatively simple. One need only ensure a desired plot of land was formally surveyed and topographically mapped on a diseño, a hand-drawn parchment usually done by the applicant themselves, and use the land strictly for grazing or farming.

Many Creoles and other people of color were able to find employment on the ranchos as farmhands, cowboys, maids, or farmers, while others held managerial positions and oversaw the rancho itself. Although treatment and compensation of the workers depended from rancho to rancho, the bourgeoning economy improved the plight of Creole community considerably.

In the years leading up to the Mexican-American War, more and more Anglophones from the east had begun settling California, upsetting the balance of the territory. Mostly white and Protestant, the Anglo-Americans threatened the informal racial hierarchy of the local community, who came with a binary concept of race: white and non-white, with no distinction on social status or wealth. The predominance of Catholicism and a free class of a mixed-race disturbed the settlers, who believed in American. The Mexican government viewed the Anglo-Americans with equal suspicion and wariness, and tried to force them to adopt Catholicism and learn Spanish. Within the Creole and Channelier communities, their shared French heritage came into increasingly hostile contact and conflict with the Anglophones.

California Republic
In 1846, a group of Anglo-Americans launched a revolt in present-day, Plumas, triggering the Californian War of Independence. It was triggered in response to growing tensions between the settlers and the Mexican government, as well as the Mexican-American War which broke out just a month earlier over Brazoria. Within a month, Porciúncula had also joined the rebellion, and the Creoles were divided on the matter. Some saw the conflict as an opportunity to assert for more rights from the Mexican government, while others exercised measured restraint, fearing an Anglo-American regime would worsen their situation.

Although the majority of the Creole population in and around the Porciúncula area chose to remain neutral throughout the conflict, a number of Creole men enlisted in either side of the conflict. The Creole community in Grands Ballons was caught in the middle of the Battle of San Pedro, when the Anglo-American forces laid siege to it. The community unilaterally surrendered after the Mexican and Californio soldiers were driven out or captured.

Ancestry and race
During initial settlement by the Spaniards and the French in Sierra (then known as California), the natives who were born in the colonies were known as the Creoles, and was used indiscriminately for all races with the notable exception of the Native Amerindians. As the colonies grew and became more integrated with the rest of the Spanish Americas, new sophisticated racial definitions and the Spanish  system developed.

Who is Creole?
The below table is a visualization of terms used in the historic Sierran casta system. Within the system, certain people were generally referred to as Creole, and modern conceptions regarding Creole identity have largely stemmed and persisted from this categorization system.

Cuisine
Sierran Creole cuisine is a subset of Sierran cuisine that originated from Grands Ballons, starting in the late 18th-century. It draws influences from Louisiana Creole, French, Spanish, Mexican, Anglo-American (notably Brazorian), Chinese, Japanese, and Native Sierran culinary traditions. Like Louisiana Creole cuisine, it features the, a consisting of onion, celery, and green bell pepper, but the cuisine is distinct for its heavier use of shredded cheese, olive oil, garlic, avocado, corn, and black beans, compared to its Louisianan cousin. Sierran Creole cuisine in turn, has helped influence Sierran cuisine as a whole, and has dominated culinary traditions in the Gold Coast especially.

Dessiné is the most iconic and famous Sierran Creole dish, which originates from Grands Ballons. Similar to its Louisianan cousin, gumbo, dessiné is a meat-based rice dish which is served as a soup or stew. Although it can be served with any combination of meat or seafood, it is primarily cooked with chicken or beef brisket. The soup is created by combining chicken broth or beef stock,, and a white wine-based. Seasonings including and the Holy trinity are also cooked with the soup, and a cup of white, buttered rice is generally added on top of the soup as the last step.

Overview

 * Grands Ballons, Gold Coast
 * Marin du Roi, Gold Coast
 * Rancho Sepulveda, Gold Coast
 * Coîter Moise, Gold Coast
 * San Clemente-by-the-Sea, Orange
 * St. Pierre-Chah, Gold Coast
 * Garçonville, Gold Coast
 * Pinnipède Landing, Gold Coast
 * Castellammare, Gold Coast
 * Puvunga Beach, Gold Coast
 * Plage du Roi, Gold Coast
 * Puvunga Beach, Gold Coast
 * Plage du Roi, Gold Coast
 * Plage du Roi, Gold Coast
 * Plage du Roi, Gold Coast
 * Plage du Roi, Gold Coast

Notable people

 * For a more comprehensive list, see List of Sierran Creole people.