An exploration of women's involvement in the Latin American Wars of Independence

Magdalena Ortega de Nariño

Gender:Female

Ethnic origen: White

Events:

Connections:

Biography:
Born in 1762, she married Antonio Nariño. On 13 August 1810, she defended former Viceroy Amar y Borbón and his wife, Francisca Villanova, against an angry crowd who wanted to punish them for the mistakes of the former administration. She may have been involved in the colegio de Enseñanza. (Knaster, 484.)

On 14 August 1810 she was among a group of women who insisted that the Viceroy and his wife, Francisca Villanova, be given safe conduct from the prisons in which they'd been held overnight and returned to the Viceroy's palace. (Monsalve, 94)

She helped Nariño in the campaign for Colombian independence. On 19 January 1796 she wrote to the Spanish crown asking for better treatment for her husband. He escaped from the Spanish Court two months later and returned to Nueva Granada. (Knaster, 483)

She and Nariño hosted political tertulias from 1789-94. (Forero, 18-25) She died in July 1811, six months after Nariño's release from prison, and two days after his paper La Bagatela was first published. (Forero, 136)

She was part of the González Manrique, Alvarez, Ricaurte, París, Pardo, Nariño clan. (Monsalve, 139)

References:

Forero, Manuel José (1970) Grandes heroinas de Colombia, Doña Magdalena Ortega de Nariño, La Precursora
Knaster, Meri (1977) Women in Spanish America: An Annotated Bibliography from Pre-Conquest to Contemporary Times
Monsalve, José D (1926) Mujeres de la independencia