POSTS – Page 12 – Atlantic History

Activities in the Toluca Valley

November 9, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

Warning: Undefined variable $num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 126

Warning: Undefined variable $posts_num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 127

Caterina Pizzigoni writes about the the people of the Toluca Valley and how trade was the center of their lives. Maize cultivation was the main occupation for the people in Toluca Valley (Pizzigoni, 143). Also, maguey, a type of plant that was of importance to the indigenous people of the Toluca Valley, was used almost like currency. It could be bought, sold, traded, grown on property, or passed along to children. Maguey was also used in alcoholic beverages. The idea of culture clash comes up when talking about drinking alcoholic beverages in the Toluca Valley because while it was a normal activity of the indigenous people, the church and the Spanish had a negative view on the matter and tried to suppress tons of drinking.

Pizzigoni brings up the idea that maize and livestock was left for the men to deal with while the women dealt with maguey cultivation (Pizzigoni, 146). Fathers tended to give the oxen to their sons since the men cultivated the land while he would then give his daughters cows, or animals not needed for the lands. The idea of buying maguey for their children, depending on their standing in the family rather than gender, is interesting. It also looks like women had economic opportunities in the Toluca Valley, where they were able to buy and sell maguey. I agree with Diana Tran that maguey cultivation was a central role in women’s lives. There are evidence of culture change taking place in the Toluca Valley with their names. Pizzigoni looks at the lives of individual’s with names like Don Juan and Rosa Maria which shows how strong Spanish influence was in that region.

Whether it was maize, livestock, maguey, or clearing land, it seems like life in the Toluca Valley was centered around trading goods and skills among one another in order to better their lives for their families.

Gender Roles, Trade, Atlantic Influence, and Central Mexico

November 9, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

Caterina Pizzigoni describes the important economic factors of indigenous Central Mexico in the most boring way imaginable. It seems that by scouring wills, funeral practices, lawsuits, and estate documentation belonging to the inhabitants of the Toluca Valley during the colonial period, Pizzigoni has unraveled the economic pursuits and resources of the typical Central Mexican household of the time. In chapter 5, she highlights the integral role indigenous women played in the economic activities of maguey cultivation, pulque manufacture, and even money lending, once again proving that society and situation dictate responses to circumstance, as I alluded to in my last post. Additionally, she categorizes the commodities of maguey, pigs, land, and currency as factors of trade, the basic activity that brought colonial-era households together in the pursuit of profit, and opened the Toluca Valley to the Atlantic scene. (Pizzigoni, 163) As a result, Spanish influence infiltrated indigenous households, establishing its mark on the economy. According to Pizzigoni, Spanish influence is most apparent in the matters of hocking, selling, and renting, ideas not necessarily new to colonial Mexico, but changed by the inevitable encroachment of Iberian domination. (Pizzigoni, 163)

As Diana points out, the day-to-day activities of raising livestock (a Spanish gift) and trading in clothing were additional income producing enterprises in the Toluca Valley. They allowed for some independence and individuality among the indigenous people during Spanish colonization. Moreover, the cultivation of the maguey and manufacture of pulque afforded them a little break from reality every so often despite the additional tax placed on alcoholic beverages by the Spanish. Speaking of booze, I need a drink after reading this chapter. Wow. No words.

Toluca Valley and Maguey Cultivation

November 9, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

Local indigenous society in the Toluca Valley, Mexico, is viewed as an unfortunate, disproportionable group of peoples trying to pay off debts to the local landlords. Caterina Pizzigoni emphasizes on the household factors that contributed to how Toluca folk dealt with daily life out in public and in the economic sphere of this location. Cultivations of maize and maguey were essential to making these towns develop sufficiently. The maguey plant could be used up to a variety of either food or material fuel. The maguey upheld its ecological advantages among the Toluca peoples to help pay off those who controlled their well-being with low-wage rental housing and unequal debts.

In accordance with what my colleague Diana Tran was stating, what’s interesting if not apparent enough in chapter 5 of The Life Within is that the majority of individuals who may have possibly profited well from maguey cultivation were in fact women. “Gender affects maguey cultivation, but not in the same way as with house and distant land” (pg. 146). It was easy to own the product, but not the vicinity of where it developed from. But unless you were a male client, it was slightly the opposite. Men concentrated more on maize and livestock shares than just the plant alone.

The ancestral connections drawn out between the peoples mentioned in this reading show us how the maguey served a financial purpose, as well as localized vocabulary techniques when producing the source. When they discovered how to extract pulque juice from the capone maguey (already cut), the process was done in some particular way that resembled the way they “castrate” a rooster. This allowed them to modify their vocabulary with whatever they happened to have been innovating at the time, since capone comes from the Spanish word capar meaning “to castrate”. Pulquerias were established for both festivals and market consumption of maguey for young Toluca customers seeking to make ends meet among the product themselves.

Activities on the Toluca Valley

November 9, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

This chapter covers the various everyday activities of the indigenous people of the Toluca Valley. Pizzigoni focused mainly on the economic activities. Their day usually consists of maguey cultivation and exploitation, raising livestock and domestic animals, trading in land, hocking and moneylending. She first analyzes the central role that magueys play in their lives. She stated that it was more likely for a woman to declare ownership of a significant number of plants than a man (Pizzigoni, 146). However, women who own large numbers of magueys usually have very few pieces of land. My colleague Erin Wroe mentioned that women in England did not have to wholly submit to a patriarch-led household and could make a living for themselves with little interference. This was also true for women of the Toluca valley as they were also active and involved in economics.

Raising livestock and domestic animals and trading in clothing and land were also a very popular way for income. Oxen, yokes, and cows were often the chosen livestock. What I found interesting was that Pizzigoni mentioned that smaller animals such as pigs and chickens were rarely mentioned (Pizzigoni, 152). However, I would assume that pigs and chickens were also a very popular because they were cheaper than oxen and yokes. Pizzigoni continues on to explain in detail the importance and benefits of their everyday activities.

For the indigenous people of the Valley, it was more common for them to pawn pieces of land for money rather than personal objects. This was incredibly interesting to me as I would have assumed that pawning off land would be the last resort. Personally, I would sell all of my personal effects first before I sell my land. Furthermore, the chapter ended with Pizzigoni ageing that the matter of pawning, selling, and renting reveals Spanish influence on the Toluca Valley.

Indigenous Citizens in Toluca Valley

November 8, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

Within Toluca Valley, the indigenous population was involved in agricultural and economic activities that benefited their communities. Maguey cultivation was central to the Valley, since it could be used as food or clothing to sell on the market to pay off debts. While it was men who owned larger crops of maguey, it was women who often claimed ownership over the plant on their lands. Women such as Maria Josefina Maria owned maguey crops and often willed them to their children, hoping to pass on property down the family line (Pizzigoni, 145). In terms of livestock, more men willed their animals to their heirs (Pizzigoni, 151). Large animals such as oxen were considered valuable in harvesting land, or they could also be used to establish trade with interested clients. Lucas Damian was involved in trading and selling pigs with various customers, generating a profit in order to sustain his household. Testators sold clothing and utensils to cover burial costs, or gave them to their children to be used (Pizzigoni, 155). Buying and selling land was a common activity in Toluca Valley, as well as harvesting crops on various territories. Citizens would offer parcels of land to pay for their leases, or rented out land for personal interest as long as they paid the required sum (Pizzigoni, 157). The people of Toluca Valley also hocked objects for money, and were involved in giving it to those who desperately needed it (Pizzigoni, 159, 162). Indigenous peoples’ agricultural and economic spaces in Toluca Valley were part of an important system. They worked to support their families and their communities even after their deaths, ensuring that their successes and traditions would be passed on to future generations.

Caterina Pizzigoni’s mention of women’s involvement in the community reminded me of Mary Beth Norton’s article. While the women featured were of difference races, they both contributed to the growth of their social and economic structures. Indigenous women supported their families with goods they produced or sold, and white women helped their children grow spiritually (Norton, 608). As Danny Alvarez has said, indigenous women were the main cultivators of maguey crops and made significant amounts of money off of it. I agree that this allowed them to pay off their debts.

Primary Sources on Christopher Columbus’ Journey to the New World

November 7, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

Christopher Columbus’ Journey to the New World:

My final project topic will focus on Christopher Columbus’s journey and discovery to America also known as the New World in 1492. Here are 3 primary sources related to Christopher Columbus and his journey in 1492. Each of these primary sources explain his journey through various sources.

World Map of 1482:

This is map that Christopher Columbus used to set sail for the New World. This map was used to navigate Christopher Columbus and his ship during his voyage to the New World. The most popular map for mariners at that time was printed in 1482 but originally compiled by the Alexandrian geographer, astronomer, and mathematician Claudius Ptolemy in the second century A.D. (https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/august-03/)

Germanus, Donnus Nicolaus. World Map, Cosmographia, Claudius Ptolemaeus Ulm. (1482: Thacher Collection): https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/august-03/

Letters from Christopher Columbus during his journey:

This is a series of letter Christopher Columbus wrote after his first transatalnatic voyage, where he is writing this letters to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain on his encounter of an island, filled with innumberable people, and find their Highness. These copies of his manuscripts were made as court officials and published in April 1493 and written by Christopher Columbus. These copies of Columbus’ letters came from the Library of Congress of Rare Book and Special Collections Division. (https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/exploring-the-early-americas/columbus-and-the-taino.html)

Columbus, Christopher. Epistola Christofori Colom (Letters of Christopher Columbus). (Rome: Stephen Planneck: 1493): https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/exploring-the-early-americas/columbus-and-the-taino.html

Spanish Coat of Arms of 1493:

The Coat of Arms was awarded to Christopher Columbus from the Spanish Sovereigns due to his successful journey of discovery to America. According to the blazon, this was dated on May 20th, 1493. The Coat of Arms that Columbus was awards the royal charges of Castile and Léon (the castle and the lion) but with different tinctures or colors. In the third quarter would be islands in a wavy sea, and in the fourth is the customary arms of his family. The Coat of Arms came from Christopher Columbus’s own book of privileges from 1502, published by Henry Harrisse in 1893. The Coat of Arms came from the Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division. (http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/1492/columbus.html).

Harrisse, Henry. “Columbus’ Coat of Arms in Christopher Columbus.” Christopher Columbus’s own book of privileges from 1502. (London: B.F. Stevens: 1893): http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/1492/columbus.html

The Evolution of White Women’s Experience in Early America

November 7, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

Mary Beth Norton’s The Evolution of White Women’s Experience in Early America analyzes the inconsistencies in the status of colonial women according to studies up to the early 20th century and studies of the late 20th century and early 21st century. According to Norton, the dominating theme of colonial women’s history for over fifty years was that these women were better off compared to English women and women of the 19th century: “The high sex ratio also gave women crucial bargaining power in the marriage market, since their productive contributions were vital to the survival of colonial households” (Norton, 593). However, Norton later explains that this picture of women fails to tell the full story of how women were portrayed in colonial America.

Norton points out that the discussion around colonial women needs to be reconstructed in order to properly and accurately address the decline in status of the White, American woman. Three periods of time – the first initial settling (1620-1650), a period of transition (1650-1670), and the American Revolution era (1750-1815)– deeply affected the changing status of American women through a growing emphasis on family and community, altering ideas on society and polity.

In her post, Erin Wroe writes that “across the Atlantic, women’s roles were either restricted or expanded depending on their location. What can be said is women contributed to the growth of their societies, and they set an example for how women could impact their environment despite their place” (Wroe, Not Just Dainty Ladies). This reminds me of Norton’s explanation that the implementation of family and community values in American culture over time deeply impacted the role of women in societal functions. Woe’s argument clearly resonates with Norton’s statement in that Wroe explains that women contributed to social growth by setting an example for the daily acts of women from colonial America into the 19th century. I personally do believe that as time progressed, so did the status and roles of women, as seen with the first migration in the 15th century, the transition from Europe to a new hemisphere, and the war for independence of the 18th and 19th centuries. The changing in time and society contributed to the eventual restriction of American women’s rights throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

White Women’s Experiences in Early America

November 7, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

Discussions regarding the early experiences of women within American colonies during the 17th to 18th centuries are often overlooked. A majority of historians conclude a simple answer that American colonial women were better off then women back in England. Within Mary B. Norton’s, “The Evolution of White Women’s Experience in Early America,” Norton argues that the experiences of women in the American colonies was more complex then what was originally thought. I found it fascinating that while women in colonies experienced higher bargaining power when it came to marriage, a lax enforcement of English common law, and border range of choices, they still faced challenges. Concepts over a patriarchal society and a nuclear family were still prevalent within colonial society just as it was an England. The difference being that American colonies, most of the time, lacked traditional communal institutions. Gender role expectations remained the same within colonial society, though vastly different patterns developed within individual colonies. Similar to the comparison of the Jamestown and Plymouth colonies in Karen O. Kupperman’s Jamestown Project, Norton compares the differences in lifestyle within the Chesapeake and New England colonies. And, just as in Kupperman’s work, both colonies developed differently due to environmental and economic factors. For women in the Chesapeake colonies they experienced a rough environment, a lack of patriarchal family practices, high mortality rates, and less likelihood of marriage due to competition from native born Chesapeake women. In comparison, New England women experienced a balanced sex ratio, a high livelihood of marriage, a stable/sustainable environment, and the influential ideas of two strong institution (the Puritan church and the stable patriarchal family). Even with the certain restrictions placed upon women in both colonies, it still seemed that they had more freedom and choices then they did back in England. That is why I found the two concepts brought up by Mary B. Norton, regarding the certain benefits women in England possessed, to be a revealing.

Two concepts separated the lifestyles of English women from American colonial women. First, English women could earn wages and live independently of a paternal household for a period of time so long as it followed the terms of their marriage. And second, English women were actively engaged in a market economy, exchanging goods and services along with men. Few American women had similar experiences within their communal colonial societies. It is interesting to think that even outside of patriarchal England, some American colonial women still faced restrictions depending on the colony they had settled with. I agree with the statement given by Allison Roberts, “not all of the women had the same experiences because not all of colonies treated women the same, there is no one way to define colony women.” As time would go by, colonial women would face even more challenges as the introduction of slave labor would undermined their martial status within the household. For colonial women from the 17th to 18th centuries, they gained new found freedoms within society, while at the same time they also faced new societal restrictions to endure.

White Women in Early America

November 7, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

This article was an interesting take on the lives of women in early america. The debate between if there was truly a golden age for women or not is very fascinating. I particularly liked the discussion on the set up of family and how it carried over to early America. The traditional religious English family believed the father to the head of the house and in charge of all decisions. The mother was under the father and had to defer to him for any real decisions and she was followed by the children and servants. However, this English ideal did not always translate over exactly in the colonies. I think it is interesting that in Chesapeake and New England had such different outcomes on the traditional family. New England had lower death rates, closer man to woman ratios, and more favorable conditions and were therefore, able to keep close to the English ideal of family. Chesapeake had opposite conditions and therefore had different family dynamics. The woman often married twice and men had less control and say over their mixed families (Norton 597-598). This reminded me of many different sections of Atlantic History. There was not always one way of doing things, every colony had their own experience and unique set up depending on the situations they were dealing with. This goes along with what warmturtletank says in their post about colony woman being able to be defined by a wider range. Not all the women had the same experiences because not all colonies treated women the same, there is no one way to define colony women.

White Women’s Experiences in Early America

November 7, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

Early colonial women enjoyed much better advantages than European women. One of the most important factors was due to the scarce number of female in the colonies. Unlike most European women who always restricted by the code of domesticity and the patriarchal society, colonial women enjoy their freedom to do what they wished. They had the power over the marriage market, economic opportunities.

I agree with my classmate, Kyle Kelsay that this article explains the experience of women in Colonial America through migration, religion, creating communities and families. In each of these categories, Mary Beth Norton gave examples on how women played such significant roles.

However this status of colonial women eventually decline in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. New generations brought changes to the colonies. The South began to replace white indentured servants with African slaves which altered the racial composition of American society (601). New white immigrants of various ethnic and religious backgrounds came to America with their own definition of family norms. Most importantly, as the sex ratio approached equality, men slowly reassert their authority over the women (602).

When the idea of the Republican Mother emerged, an ideal American woman was expected to be self-sacrificed, patriotic mother who raise her children to be good Christians. Such woman certainly had no place in the public world, thus women were pushed further into the home, into the Victorian cult of domesticity (618).