“The Canarian emigration to the Indies was predominantly male, causing some important consequences for the families settled on the island, where many women had to face managing not only the assets they had, but also acting as guardians and curators of their children.” . This is how the emeritus professor and former rector of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Manuel Lobo Cabrera, describes the situation of many Gran Canaria women during the XNUMXth century.
And it is male emigration that has traditionally focused the interest of researchers, largely forgetting everything they left behind. This fact makes the presentation of the work titled 'Women of Gran Canaria: Passengers, merchants and those with absent relatives in the Indies during the 5th century' even more interesting. The presentation, on October XNUMX, was presented by Lobo Cabrera within the framework of the celebration of the XXV Colloquium of Canary American History, a forum to which he is linked as a member of the scientific committee. The event, organized by the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, through the Casa de Colón.
The female roots of the colony
Are women the great forgotten in the founding history of the Canary Islands? What role did they really play in colonial times? Manuel Lobo makes a statement clear: “The conquest and founding of the urban centers in the Canary Islands was an eminently masculine task, since there were hardly any women in the army, except for the occasional one dedicated to domestic work or prostitution. Once the colony was formed, its role was decisive, since it was the element that allowed roots to be generated through the family,” the researcher clarifies, however.
The story is a little later when the women of the XNUMXth century are forced to face a new reality. Their husbands go to the Indies and find themselves in the need to take charge of the family unit. “The women, when they were left alone, although they almost always gave the husband leave to be absent,” explains Lobo Cabrera, “they faced her situation thanks to their family and the properties they had.”
Single-parent families
It is not unreasonable to affirm, therefore, that single-parent families were then an everyday reality, which meant they had to assert their rights or those of their children over the property of their absent husbands. “In effect, this was an everyday reality,” admits the historian, “although it was normal that they formed polynuclear units, where they asserted their rights either through the powers granted by their husbands before they were absent, or by making public information before the justice to prove that their husbands had emigrated to the Indies,” he explains.
The situation in which they were left after the departure of their husbands generated the proliferation of new female professional activities. “There were few, actually,” says Manuel Lobo, who clarifies that “some declared themselves as farmers and sellers.”
Women merchants in Gran Canaria “most normally sent textile or preserved products to the Indies through orders they made to third parties, so that they could invest the profit obtained in articles and products that were easy to sell on the islands,” The professor goes into depth about this type of female professional activities. This is not an isolated phenomenon, but a common situation within the framework of European colonialism, especially “typical of ports where there was direct contact with the American continent.”
Documentary sources
The research sources where women leave traces of their situation are mainly, and almost uniquely, according to Lobo Cabrera, notarial protocols and sacramental books.
"The information that the different deeds provide us with to be able to analyze the topic to be discussed is the name and surname not only of the woman and her residence, whether she is a resident or neighbor, but also of her husband and children, as well as the place where they had emigrated and under what conditions, trade, emigration, positions in the administration, enlistment in some army, etc.", Manuel Lobo will develop in his presentation.
The notarial protocols of Gran Canaria from the XNUMXth century offer, in a trickle, information in this regard, especially through their declarations, but also through the powers granted by those women, not only to claim assets, but especially to obtain those assets. that from the Indies their relatives, both husband and children, had previously referred them to the Casa de la Contratación. This shows, according to the professor, “that married women with absent husbands in the Indies were a daily reality in the Canary Islands of the XNUMXth century, in a situation that was difficult to define because they did not have their husband by their side, but they were not widows or single either.” .
We must not disregard the information also found in the protocols with some references about the presence of women who emigrate alone or in the company of their family, defying the inclement weather and navigation, as well as the inconveniences of the trip, as well as those who practice commercial activity, alone or in the company of a family member.
Life stories
Manuel Lobo has discovered, in the course of his investigations, some curious personal stories, "especially those of women who make a journey to look for one of their relatives." But what were the conditions under which women who emigrated alone traveled? Was it something common? “No, they used to travel in the company of someone they trusted, almost always a woman, or a member of their family: son or brother,” explains Manuel Lobo.
Not that her situation was especially vulnerable compared to women on the continent. “The differences are small,” explains the professor. "However, by residing on islands it was easier for them to become familiar with commercial activities and the world of the sea." Furthermore, it was not as difficult, as one might suppose, to justify their marital status through marriage certificates or public information. “In some cases, they were helped by the administration with the appointment, along with the wife, of a tutor and curator,” concludes the speaker.
