Women in Spain

Spain was occupied by many different groups during the 15th century, about 7 or so major ones. Aragon and Castile were two of the major kingdoms whose rulers became married to one another. Mostly an agreement between the two these rulers still stayed within their kingdoms and ruled separate from each other. Because of all these groups and the influence of the two major groups Spain became a very mixed place in terms of culture, laws and religion. Marriage was one of those things that was run culturally but would soon be backed up by the institute of religion to back up the promises of the partners. Spain was special in this regard because unlike in many European countries where woman had limited rights, Spain allowed a lot more flexibility to both parties. In the article by Allyson M. Poska marriage in 17th century Spain was greatly influenced by the Catholic Church because marriage was a sacred institution. So legally once a marriage was made between two people in the presence of a priest it could not be broken but under the most specific circumstances. For those that were not married but promised to marry still ran into problems as most of them were promised to receive sex from the other person and then ditched afterward.  But what sets Spain apart from other places is the amount of justice a woman or man can receive based on the presented evidence. Like a man could not promise marriage and have sex with a woman who then became pregnant and was left to raise the child. Like today, they would go before the court and in many cases the man would have to compensate the woman for putting her in this situation. The same practice applied to adulterers who wanted to leave their partners for another man or woman. Many times these compensations would not be in the form of money because many were poor so instead materials would be given instead such as aprons or cloth materials. Sometimes women tried to use the excuse of rape or that they didn’t consent to the marriage but this didn’t always work especially if their were any witnesses to their promised marriage together. Married couples had a harder time dealing with bad relationships because as mentioned before they could not separate by law. Often times the two would just separate from each other physically without any legal means but this led to both parties eventually getting back together. In rare cases a marriage could be granted separation if the woman could not bear a child which was the purpose of marriage, if one of the partners wanted to take up religious order or if the marriage was forced somehow. So women in Spain had a lot of room to operate within the legal system where often in history they did not have any rights. it just goes to show the importance of the females in Spain and how that would soon effect the countries they conquered later in time.

Slavery in South America

Slavery has been around for centuries in many different forms in many different areas of the world. Slaves were generally captured soldiers during war or even a religious group of people or race minority in an area. Slaves were often used for construction of big structures or cultivation of the land. Around the 1400’s, Europeans were very active in Africa rounding up slaves for their colonies and with the help of many African tribes many Africans were rounded up by the hundreds of thousands. The Atlantic Slave Trade was a big enterprise used by several countries like Britain, Portugal, France and Spain and many others to turn out profits for goods that were scarce in the Old World. When the New World was discovered slaves were taken from Africa to South America on huge slave ships were tons of slaves were kept. Conditions on these boats were horrible and just barely livable enough for a majority of the slaves to survive the journey. Once on the other side they were taken to a port town where the slaves were auctioned off to Plantation owners or small business owners in towns. Slaves were treated like property more than human beings and they were exchanged in this way. Even though many were given christian names when they arrived there were given little rights. Some did make money by taking the skills they had learned from their masters and using them to make a living once they were freed, but that rarely happened. Men and women had different tasks depending on the location and their condition. Slave men in urban areas worked with their masters if they owned a small business. For example, some were apprentices to their masters who worked as a blacksmith. Women in urban areas often worked at the homes of the masters that bought them, helping with the house work and helping with the kids of the house.  Slaves in rural areas had a different lifestyle and it was once again divided by sex. Men often worked in the fields doing the harder labor, harvesting and chopping wood while the women worked in the houses or even planted in the fields. Every now and then slaves would escape or revolt and those lucky enough got away but those that didn’t were punished severely and sometimes put to death and many of the up rises ended in bloodshed. But those slaves that did make it out would head to nearby free slave camps or just somewhere far away from their masters. Slavery was huge in the New World from around this time all the way until the Civil War in America during the end of the 1800’s but it still remains in some countries today and it’s really sad that countries still use people like that.

Gender and Sexuality 2nd Blog Entry

This week was an interesting introduction into the course. The Andes is a very interesting place wit ha diverse ecosystem and a wide array of animals and plants. It’s no surprise then that the environment had such a huge impact on the people who lived there. The shape of the land encouraged a kinship between different peoples in order to gain access to the food in the separate zones. What interests me the most is how the Inca Empire rose out of this area and then extended as far as it did along the Andes. This huge society was made up of millions of people which a specific set of rules that kept them all in line. Everything was strict and kept in check including food, living, roles of people and all of this was different for males and females. The reading under the Guaman Poma de Ayala went into detail on this, explained how punishment was given for certain offenses and how whoreish woman were dealt with. Men and woman were categorized in 9 different groups by age and each group was expected to do something specific until a certain age. Men generally ended up serving in the military around age 20 and women stayed and took care of children and weaved and made things. Crossing many of the rules set in place by the Incas was normally punished by death or something equal to what was committed. They even had a set of rules for the mentally or physically handicapped and these people often lived in the same area together but were still given tasked based on their disability.

After reading this article I came to realize just how advanced this civilization was compared to those around them. Technologically they were behind the Europeans during this time but as a society and culture they were quite advanced. Especially with the vast size of their empire to be able to control that many people and do it for so long takes a lot of work and time. I often wonder, as I’m sure historians in this field also think about, what would have happened if the Spanish had not arrived and dismantled this society how would it have turned out centuries later. Would there be a huge power in South America like there is in North America or Europe and Asia and also what records could have been recovered or found had the Spanish not destroyed a great deal of it. Of course we’ll never really know the answers to many things but it still makes one wonder just how much was wasted from many similar invasions like this.