6. The Aztecs Gave Women As Gifts To The Conquistadors
The primary role of women in Aztec society was as weavers, and subsequently as generators of wealth. The cloth was highly valued and used as currency, and women were the only people who wove it. Women were accordingly viewed as tantamount to property, being “gifted” in both ritual sacrifices and between high-ranking males as gestures of friendship or alliance.
This habit of “gifting” women continued when the Spanish colonizers arrived in Mexico. A Spanish chronicler noted that Aztec rulers took, “absolutely whichever woman they wanted, and they were given to them as men of power. Moreover, following this usage, many daughters of the rulers were given to the Spaniards, so that they would leave descendants there, in case this should go away from this land.” The Aztecs were tragically wise in this decision, as the Spanish colonizers did ultimately destroy their Empire within a century of their arrival.
When the famous colonizer Cortes arrived, he and his men were “given” twenty women including a wealthy noblewoman of high status who served as a diplomat between the Spanish and the Aztec. Given the state of women at the time, there are no writings or accounts of how women felt about being gifted between men or what role, if any, consent played in these giftings.