These early individuals are not very apparent in modern Mexico for two main reasons: the widespread "mestizaje" of Mexico during the Spanish period and the common practice of "Chino" slaves to "pass" as "Indios" (the indigenous people of Mexico) in order to attain freedom. As had occurred with a large portion of Mexico's black population, over generations the Asian populace was absorbed into the general Mestizo population. Facilitating this miscegenation was the assimilation of Asians into the indigenous population. The indigenous people were legally protected from chattel slavery, and by being recognized as part of this group, Asian slaves could claim they were wrongly enslaved.