The founding of female convents in colonial Peru: a transatlantic perspective

In the second half of the sixteenth century, the first female monasteries in the Viceroyalty of Peru—financed mostly by migrant Spanish women—became indispensable instruments of conquest, settlement, and evangelization. This essay examines these foundresses’ decisive role as agents of Hispanization during the early phase of globalization, tracing how they translated Iberian religious institutions and forged new ecclesiastical and social structures in the Americas. Drawing on religious, transatlantic, and gendered perspectives, it shows how they erected, endowed, and governed convents that met the spiritual and material needs of a diverse community of Spanish, Indigenous, and mestiza women, while also advancing their own religious and social ambitions. By integrating these lenses, this research enriches our understanding of female transoceanic mobility and underscores women’s irreplaceable role as translators and architects of Spanish colonial institutions across the Americas.