Latin American Women Before and After the Conquest - How They Adapted

Women have been and are adept at adapting to their environments. Latin American women showed this capacity for change during the conquest period but honed these traits during the pre-conquest culture. Two of the many things that appear to have contributed to their flexibility are the rise of complex cultures and the resultant need for refined, or different, roles; and the wars that occurred between these different people states.

As pre-conquest peoples migrated and settled in to their new lands, most learned how to cultivate the earth, which meant that they could settle down and occupy a land. When they settled into specific areas, cities grew. The roles that women played as they migrated changed as they settled into their new cultures. No longer were the men hunters and the women gatherers; men "left the city on missions of war, diplomacy, or trade" (Kellogg, p. 22) while women were responsible for maintaining the households. Women were now accountable for food preparation, raising the children, and crafting the tools and implements needed for their tasks as well as for trade.

As these cities and complex cultures grew, so did their need for expansion or conquest. As a result of this, wars were waged. Some were for growing the civilization; others were to gain captives for sacrifice. Either way, men went to war; which meant that sometimes they did not return. A woman's role would change if her husband, or man of the house, did not return. Women needed to be adaptable to take on new responsibilities in a man's absence whether that was just during the time of his absence or if he did not return at all.

Women in pre-conquest civilizations were adept at being chameleons. They took on roles and responsibilities that needed to be done whether they knew about those roles or not. In times of prosperity and in lean times, change occurred and adaptation was a necessity. Children did not raise themselves and households did not run themselves. These were women's roles. Adapting to and learning new roles along the way was something that they had to do in order for their civilization to grow and prosper.

These same pre-conquest Latin American women took their ability to conform to new conditions with them into the conquest period. They were strong women and they demonstrated that strength through their conquest ordeals. These women who raised families and maintained households would not let the conquers break them.

References:

Susan Kellogg, (2005). Weaving the Past A History of Latin America's Indigenous Women from the Prehispanic Period to the Present. Oxford, N.Y.: Oxford University Press

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