As early as the sixteenth century in the colonial period in New Spain, criollos, or the "descendants of Spanish colonists,"[27] began to "distinguish themselves from the richer and more powerful peninsulares," whom they referred to as gachupines, as an insult. At the same time, Mexican-born Spaniards were referred to as criollos, initially as a term that was meant to insult. However, over time, "those insulted who were referred to as criollos began to reclaim the term as an identity for themselves