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At many times and places, monogamy and other forms of marriage have coexisted peacefully—as they’re increasingly doing in the US today. But at other times they’ve been part of dramatic conflicts. Historian Sarah M.S. Pearsall describes particularly intense clashes of cultural attitudes toward marriage that played a role in two uprisings against Spanish colonial rule by Native people: the Guale Rebellion in Spanish Florida and the Pueblo Revolt in New Mexico.
Pearsall writes that Spanish colonists came to the Americas primed to be horrified by polygamy. Through the Reconquista and Spanish Inquisition, it had been a rationale for attacks on Muslims and Sephardic Jews. So Spanish missionaries saw the polygamous marriage models used by some Indigenous Americans as one of the great evils to be rooted out.
Given the limited surviving evidence, Pearsall explains, it’s harder to tell what the Guale and Pueblo of the time thought about Spanish marriage customs.
“The lack of divorce [in Spanish society] must have seemed a bad idea, likely to lead to violent strife,” she suggests. “The hypocrisy of leaders, who preached celibacy and monogamy but lived outside of them, must have been striking.”
Polygamy was important to both Guale and Pueblo societies. In these and many other Native American cultures, having many wives could give a leader ties to other nearby groups, as well as a wealthier and higher-status household. Polygamy also allowed cultures in which captive-taking was common to integrate women and children from rival groups into a household.
In 1597, a Franciscan missionary in Guale land attempted to stop the head leader, Don Juan, from marrying a second wife. Juan and his followers beheaded the friar. This touched off an uprising in which the Guale forces killed five Franciscans and took a sixth captive.
The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 was much larger and more significant than the Guale Rebellion, and it took place in a different context. The long presence of Spanish colonists had prompted many changes in the area’s culture. Only a small number of elite households practiced polygamy at this point.
Po’pay, a spiritual leader, rallied the Pueblo to overthrow Spanish rule, burning temples and rosaries, destroying non-native crops, and leaving their Christian marriages. One witness reported that Po’pay promised that “the Indian who shall kill a Spaniard will get an Indian woman for a wife, and he who kills four will get four women, and he who kills ten or more will have a like number of wives.”
Po’pay appeared to be offering even low-status men the chance to gain power through martial success. Pearsall argues that this represents a “radically conservative” vision—a new kind of social organization in an old form.
“In claiming that he would make things as they had been, Po’pay offered a vision of a society actually transformed by a new basis for status, resources, and authority,” she writes.
Polygamy was part of that idealized vision, just as it was a rationale for colonialism for the Spanish and a basic part of social organization for the Guale.
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By: SARAH M. S. PEARSALL
The American Historical Review, Vol. 118, No. 4 (OCTOBER 2013), pp. xx, 1001-1028
Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical Association
FAQs
In the book Morgan presented the results of his study of the Iroquois, a Native American hunter-gatherer society in upstate New York. The Iroquois, Morgan observed, lived in large family units based on polyamorous relationships, in which men and women lived in general equality.
What are the reasons that lead to polygamous marriages in the society today? ›
There are many reasons that people may engage in polygamy. These reasons may be religious or societal, including stability, safety, companionship, economic resources, reproduction, or love. In some cases, people are also polyamorous, meaning they have the capability to love more than one person.
Do Native Americans practice polygamy? ›
Yes. There were also tribes that were promiscuous. There were tribes that were monogamous, and tribes that were polygamous. In some tribes, prostitution was part of the culture.
What is polygamy and what does the Catholic Church teach about polygamy? ›
John Gill comments on 1 Corinthians 7 and states that polygamy is unlawful; and that one man is to have but one wife, and to keep to her; and that one woman is to have but one husband, and to keep to him and the wife only has a power over the husband's body, a right to it, and may claim the use of it: this power over ...
Did early humans mate for life? ›
Monogamy and early humans
According to the New York Times, a 2011 paper showed that early humans, or hominids, began shifting towards monogamy about 3.5 million years ago—though the species never evolved to be 100% monogamous (remember that earlier statistic).
Are Spaniards polyamorous? ›
However, Spanish tolerance of the idea of polyamory does not mean that they practise the custom themselves. A survey conducted last year by data agency 40dB for El País confirmed that Spain is a monogamous country — 94.6 per cent of the couples surveyed said they were sexually faithful.
What religion practices polygamy the most? ›
However, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—also known as the Mormon Church or LDS Church—is infamous for its historical practice of plural marriage.
Were comanches monogamous? ›
The Comanche society is a polygamous culture where one or more women may take part in gathering and cooking for one man. The women were charged with raising the children and tending to the home. This included the setting up and taking down of the teepees when it was time to move to another location.
Where is polygamy most common? ›
Polygamy is most often found in sub-Saharan Africa, where 11% of the population lives in arrangements that include more than one spouse. Polygamy is widespread in a cluster of countries in West and Central Africa, including Burkina Faso, (36%), Mali (34%) and Nigeria (28%).
Did Jesus talk about polygamy? ›
Even if the Old Testament supports polygamy (as we've just shown, it doesn't), the New Testament is what matters most for if its still allowable for us Christians. And plainly, the New Testament doesn't allow it. Jesus says a man should be joined to his wife, and they will become one flesh (Matt. 19:3-6).
Even though the Bible does not say to not practice polygamy, it certainly provides many examples of the devastation that the sin of polygamy leaves in its wake. Fourth, the New Testament authors uphold Old Testament figures—such as Abraham and David—for their faith, but not as moral examples.
Did Adam have two wives? ›
Lilith and Eve - wives of Adam.
What cultures were polygamous? ›
Polygamy (taking the form of polygyny) is most common in a region known as the "polygamy belt" in West Africa and Central Africa, with the countries estimated to have the highest polygamy prevalence in the world being Burkina Faso, Mali, Gambia, Niger and Nigeria.
Did Native Americans marry their cousins? ›
Cousin marriage was historically practiced by indigenous cultures in Australia, North America, South America, and Polynesia.
Was there intermarriage between Native Americans and Europeans? ›
Not surprisingly, given the stringent and ethnocentric prerequisites to intermarriage imposed by the Europeans, few marriages between settlers and Indians occurred in the seventeenth century. Yet liaisons between European men and Indian women were not uncommon.
