2.2: Indigenous Women in the Colonies

Malintzin and Mestizaje

From the moment Europeans arrived in the Caribbean in 1492, Indigenous people have been in a fight for their lives and the survival of their culture. More than a century before the English arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, Indigenous women endured the genocide of their people, sexual exploitation and rape, and forced assimilation into Spanish and Portuguese culture. Women such as Malintzin, known to the Spanish as Dona Marina and to history as La Malinche (the betrayer), were taken by Spanish soldiers as concubines, forced to navigate between cultures. Malintzin was taken by Hernan Cortez, who conquered the Aztec empire in 1519 largely because of her linguistic help in negotiating alliances with Aztec rivals. She is often accused of betraying the people of Mesoamerica, but in reality, she was a young, powerless sex slave who used her knowledge of languages to survive. Her story was retold by Bernal Diaz del Castillo in The Conquest of New Spain, published in 1568 and by Bernadino de Sahagun in the The Florentine Codex, published between 1570 and 1585. Both were widely read in Europe and were well-known accounts of the Spanish conquest of Mesoamerica in the 16th century and helped to create the idea that indigenous women were intermediaries for, and protectors of, European men.

Missing from both of these men’s accounts was the mass rape and sexual exploitation of indigenous women in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies. Catholic priests and monks who operated the hundreds of missions established in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies noted that babies of mixed Native and Spanish parentage (mestizos) were commonly abandoned at churches or monasteries, assumed to be the product of rape. Thousands of others were kept by their mothers, although often this meant rejection from their own people. The number of mestizo children is impossible to know, but it was enough that in modern-day Mexico, over 80% of the population is a mix of Spanish and Native American.

Pocahontas

No other Native woman has experienced more mythology or notoriety than Pocahontas, the daughter of the Powhatan chief who first encountered the English when they landed at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. Her real name was Amonute, or Matoaka, and she is believed to have been about 10-12 years old when she first met the infamous Captain John Smith. Films and media, most notably Walt Disney’s story, shows a much older, physically mature woman who fell in love with Smith and defied her father by protecting him from being killed by her own tribe. This story comes from Captain John Smith’s own writings about early Virginia and were likely intended for self-promotion rather than the historical record.

What we do know is that Pocahontas acted as an intermediary between the English at Jamestown and her people, the Powhatan, visiting the fort frequently with food and other supplies. In 1613, during the First Anglo-Powhatan War, Pocahontas was kidnapped by the English in an attempt to force her father to give them weapons and return English prisoners of war. During her time in captivity, she converted to Christianity, changed her name to Rebecca, married John Rolfe, and gave birth to a son, Thomas Rolfe. In 1616, Pocahontas, John, and Thomas traveled to England where she was presented to the court of King James I as the Powhatan Princess. The portrait of her below was created during her time in England, purposely portraying her as a fully English lady, complete with clothing, hairstyle, and white painted face makeup. She died in England in 1617 and John and her son, Thomas, eventually returned to Virginia.

While the facts of her life are often disputed, Pocahontas’s 1616 image and myth have become known as the “Indian Princess” archetype. This archetype attempts to paint some Native women as helpers to White men, peacemakers, or leaders due to their relationships to a chief. Malintzin is described in the Codex and by Diaz in similar fashion, showing how early in colonization this image was created and how widespread it became. Other native women who fall under this archetype are Sarah Winnemucca and Sacagawea. The “Indian Princess” further demeans and diminishes indigenous women.

Assimilation

While the stories of Malintzin and Matoaka were well-known, hundreds of thousands of Native American women were impacted by European conquest and colonization of the Americas over the following centuries. The Spanish and Portuguese transformed South America, the Caribbean, and Mexico, while the English transformed what would become the United States in ways that are still impacting the indigenous population today.

Indigenous women along the Eastern seaboard were integral to their tribes’ agricultural economy. They planted, cultivated, and harvested the “Three Sisters” (maize, beans, and squash) as well as prepared and preserved these and other crops for winter. Women were responsible for gathering wild plants, creating herbal medicines, and processing animal hides for clothing. However, once the English created settlements, they introduced new crops such as wheat and barley and new animals such as cattle and horses, which changed the land and impacted the availability of resources the indigenous people relied on. This led many Native women to have to work for English settlers, either in agriculture or domestic service. The English also expected Native men to work the land while the women cared for the homes. Before the English, Native women had engaged in trade, but afterwards, English traders often would not speak to women, thus forcing them even further from their traditional role within the Native economy.

Prior to English colonization, Native women held leadership positions as well. Some communities were matrilineal, such as the Iroquois Confederation, where land and lineage passed through the female line. Women played a key role in decision-making for both the family and the tribal community and they held positions of respect in the community as healers and spiritual leaders, roles that were available to whomever had these gifts, regardless of gender. The idea of women serving as religious or political leaders was an affront to the English, who imposed their patriarchal values on the indigenous population. They refused to recognize Native women as political, economic, or spiritual leaders, leading to many tribes replacing women leaders with men.

Sexual Exploitation and Enslavement

In addition to economic and social disruptions, indigenous women often experienced sexual exploitation, assault, and enslavement at the hands of English colonizers. English men viewed native women as both sexually available and valuable symbols of conquest and dominance. The practice of sexual exploitation of indigenous women started long before the English arrived in the Americas, as Spanish and Portuguese sailors and conquerors (conquistadores) took Caribbean, Mexican, and South American women as concubines, wives, and the spoils of war.

Native American women were also subjected to enslavement. While the Spanish and Portuguese were more infamous for their forced labor systems, English settlers also enslaved Native women, particularly in the southern colonies. Enslaved Native women were often used for agricultural labor or as servants within European households.

Even when not formally enslaved, Native women were forced to conform to the English work ethic, particularly among the Puritans of New England, who enforced their religious beliefs through a legal code called “Blue Laws.” These laws enforced dress codes, church attendance, and Sabbath observance on all who lived within the community, regardless of their personal religious beliefs. Among many indigenous communities, women rested during menstruation, often in a separate building called a “Moon Lodge” where they were cared for by other women. The Moon Lodge was a violation of the Blue Laws and Native women who were caught not working on any day except the Sabbath were punished. It was through the enforcement of Blue Laws and other English laws that indigenous women lost their culture and traditions.