Creole peoples Creole peoples Creole people are ethnic groups which originated during the colonial-era from racial mixing between Europeans and non-European peoples, known as creolisation. These groups are typically descended from White Western European colonial settlers, West African slaves, Haitians and indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Creole peoples vary widely in ethnic background and mixture, and many have since developed distinct ethnic identities. The development of creole languages is attributed to, but independent of, the emergence of creole ethnic identities. The English word "creole" derives from the French "créole", which in turn came from Portuguese "crioulo", a diminutive of
Portuguese Renaissance the Portuguese "queijo", "meza", table in Swahili, from the Portuguese "mesa", and "botan", buton, from "botão", "kappa", cover, from "capa", and from the various Japanese words of Portuguese origin. Simultaneously, following the expansionist and knowledge seeking nature of the Portuguese Renaissance, the Portuguese language imported many words from foreign idioms, such as "cachimbo", meaning pipe, from the Kimbundu "kixima", and "algodão", meaning cotton, from the Arabic "al-qutun". The Portuguese Renaissance was a golden age for literary works in Portugal. The abundance of funds and interest lead to the creation of some of the best known pieces of the Portuguese language.