Abstract
The consolidation of the Atlantic world is gestated from complex transoceanic socioeconomic networks throughout the last quarter of the 16th century, especially after the addition of the Portuguese Crown to the Hispanic Monarchy. In this context, the Canary Islands became attractive places to undertake new professional and commercial activities. The Portuguese community that settled on the islands during this period favoured the internationalization of these territories by including them in their Atlantic networks. However, the agency of the Portuguese women who migrated to the Archipelago is still unknown. From the analysis of primary documentary sources, the objective of this investigation is to identify the Portuguese women who settled in the Islands, to know the local and transnational relationships in which they are inserted and, ultimately, to characterize the identity of these subjects based on gender and cross-border mobility.
Keywords:
gender; Portuguese; Canary Islands; mobility; identity