Mameluco

Mameluco is a Portuguese word that denotes the first generation offspring of a European and an Amerindian. It corresponds to the Spanish word mestizo.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Mameluco was used to refer to organized bands of slave-hunters, also known as bandeirantes, who roamed the interior of South America from the Atlantic to the foothills of the Andes, and from Paraguay to the Orinoco river, invading Guarani-occupied areas in search of slaves.

The word may have become common in Portugal in the Middle Ages, deriving from the Arabic "mamlūk", "Mamluk".