Women occupied prominent positions in the conquest of America; they were pioneers in the socio-economic sphere and decisive in the settlement and the process of cultural consolidation of the nascent Hispanic American society. Columbus was accompanied by thirty women on his third voyage, over 300 arrived in Santo Domingo in the first quarter of the 16th century, and the female population constituted almost a third of the passengers embarking for America between 1560 and 1579. Some Spanish women who emigrated to America escaped from a pre-established female role. Among these women there are stories of great interest, like that of Isabel Barreto, an admiral in the navy of Philip II, but also Catalina de Erauso, Isabel de Guevara, Inés Suárez and Beatriz de Palacios, who was biracial. These women and many others contributed to give another vision of the discoveries era.
Isabel Barreto De Castro
Pontevedra c. 1567 ‖ Peru c. 1612
Periodo de actividad: Desde 1595 hasta 1612
Clasificación geográfica: Europa > España
Movimientos socio-culturales
Edad Moderna
Grupos por ámbito de dedicación
Viajeras / Expedicionarias > Navegantes
Viajeras / Expedicionarias > Expedicionarias
Contexto de creación femenina
Reseña
She was the first woman to become admiral in the history of Spanish navigation. She was married to the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña. Isabel and her husband embarked in an ambitious expedition to settle Solomon Islands, discovered by Medaña some years before.
Justificaciones
Biografía
Her place of birth is unclear. It is known that she was born in 1567, but it is unclear if she was born in Pontevedra and she moved to Lima, Peru, or if she was from Lima.
There is no doubt that she got married in Lima in 1585 to Álvaro de Medaña, Spanish navigator and governor. Medaña had "discovered" Solomon Islands 17 years before. A land full of treasures where it was said that there were golden rivers and king Solomon was supposed to have got the riches to build her sumptuous temple in Jerusalem.
On 9 April 1595, four ships set sail from Callao, the port of the newly founded city of Lima, to conquer the Solomon Islands and, in the process, explore the possibility of reaching Terra Australis Incognita, which would later turn out to be the fifth continent: Australia.
A malaria epidemic caused the death of Álvaro de Mendaña, who, shortly before his death, appointed his wife as Marquise of the South, heiress to all his possessions, as his successor as governor of the islands and leader of the expedition.
For the first time in the history of Spanish conquest, a woman was the leader of a naval expedition.
Barreto decided to abandon the Solomons when he did not find the island of San Cristobal and set sail for Manila. During his voyage, he sailed the Pacific through the southern hemisphere and discovered the Marquesas Islands, an archipelago in Polynesia.
Once in Manila, Isabel married Fernando de Castro, a knight of the Order of Santiago, in May 1596, and a year later they both led an expedition with the ship San Jeronimo to Acapulco. In Mexico, Isabel Barreto held the position of "encomendera" of Guanaco and her husband was proposed as governor of the Philippines.
In 1607 both spouses requested permission to return to Spain. It is known from various documents that Isabella and her husband sued in the Spanish Court before the petitions and royal decrees given to Quiros (Portuguese chronicler who traveled with her on the first expedition) for a new expedition to the Solomons, but they were unsuccessful.
Years later they returned to Peru, where Fernando de Castro was named governor of Castrovirreyna, a position he held from 1612 to 1620. Isabel Barreto died in that city on September 3, 1612.
Real Academia de la Historia, 29/10/2022, https://dbe.rah.es/biografias/15487/isabel-barreto
Obras
Bibliografía
Fernández y Fuentes, Belén (1995). “Isabel Barreto, una mujer en el Pacífico”, in Cuaderno n.º 26 of the Instituto de Historia Naval. Madrid: Instituto de Cultura e Historia Naval.
Gómez-Lucena, Eloísa (2013). “Biografía de Isabel Barreto”. In Españolas del Nuevo Mundo: ensayos biográficos, siglos XVI-XVII. Madrid: Cátedra.
Maura, Juan Francisco (2005). Españolas de Ultramar. Valencia: Universidad de Valencia.
Luque Talaván, Miguel y Manchado López, Marta María (coords.), Un océano de intercambios. Hispanoasia (1521-1898). Madrid: Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional.
MCN Biografías, 15/03/2022, <http://www.mcnbiografias.com/app-bio/do/show?key=barreto-isabel>
BBC, 15/03/2022, <https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-49978447>
Wikipedia, 15/03/2022, <https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_Barreto>
Real Academia de la Historia, 15/03/2022, <http://dbe.rah.es/biografias/15487/isabel-barreto>
Jotdown, 15/03/2022, <https://www.jotdown.es/2015/10/isabel-barreto-la-reina-de-saba-de-los-mares-del-sur/>
Armada Española, Ministerio de Defensa, 15/03/2022, <https://armada.defensa.gob.es/archivo/rgm/2014/11/cap01.pdf>
Iberoamérica social, 15/03/2022, <https://iberoamericasocial.com/isabel-barreto-adelantada-de-los-mares-del-sur/>
Mujeres en la Historia, 15/03/2022, https://www.mujeresenlahistoria.com/2013/01/la-primera-mujer-almirante-isabel.html
La brújula verde, 15/03/2022, <https://www.labrujulaverde.com/2019/02/isabel-barreto-primera-mujer-almirante-de-la-historia-y-adelantada-del-mar-oceano>
El espía digital, 15/03/2022, <http://www.elespiadigital.com/images/stories/Documentos2/ISABEL%20BARRETO.pdf>
Youtube,15/03/2022, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtQZovW9ogs>
Youtube, 15/03/2022, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLP7oQHYTXc>
Enfoque Didáctico
This content is taught in the subject of Geography and History in 2ndESO in relation to the era of the great discoveries. From the figure of Isabel Barreto we can deepen in the analysis of travels, discoveries and exchange systems in the formation of a world economy and develop learning about the invisible people of history and the female characters that are part of it.