History Of Mail Order Brides – When The Past Meets Nowadays
List Of Best Mail Order Bride Sites
The concept of mail order brides is popular as those girls gain more and more attention from single men. Still, let`s admit, this phrase might sound strange to your ears. What`s the history of this concept? Who were and are mail order brides? This article is a summary of the investigation through the history foreign brides has.
Mail-order bride history: the main stages
The history mail order brides have is long and broad. It takes roots in the earliest ages, having several developing stages. Let`s find out the historical cases of marriages between people from different countries.
In the very beginning: politically arranged marriages
If to describe briefly, one of the descriptions for mail order brides is women married to foreigners who have chosen them previously. In ancient times, a woman`s consent wasn`t necessary to make her bride. Arranged that way marriages are part of humankind`s history since the very beginning. Leaders of tribes chose to marry a girl from another tribe to establish a deep partnership. Later, arranged marriages were common among the countries with kings ruling. This tradition was so integral that people still have many fairy tales describing such stories.
In between: colonist marriages and recruitment
With the flow of time, humankind invented ships and other water transportation. After establishing trade relations, the most progressive countries decided to explore and later colonize new lands. When men started living on free lands, they realized they lack something to create families, namely women`s existence. That fact encouraged them to contact their homelands to ask whether girls from their neighborhood, not necessarily acquainted, are willing to marry those men and start a new life abroad. In case of unsuccessful trying, one man decided to post an advertisement in a newspaper, approximately in the 17th century. This practice was significant until the 20th century.
Looking for a girl abroad via newspaper was relevant particularly during the colonization of America. For example, at the beginning of the 17th century, the leaders of the Jamestown Colony of Virginia put a call in Britain for women willing to live in the New World. During 2 years, almost 150 agreed. The motivation to change the place of living was different. Among them were wish to have an adventure, economic reasons, etc. The same story was relevant for other colonies, for example, in the New France case, when King Louis XIV put himself in charge of recruiting women for colonizers. He was successful in attracting 800 women in 10 years.
Close to our times: marriages and mail
In the 19th century, the mail system was already established. It developed the sphere of marriages of people from different corners of the world. As the colonization process didn`t stop, men were still searching for women willing to marry abroad. Those men found various ways of reaching girls. Some of them wrote letters to churches in their homelands to ask whether there was any decent girl. Some men decided to place personal advertisements in newspapers to describe their best features to attract a beautiful girl. In those times, first agents appear, as some men asked their familiars to take over searching and choose the best woman.
Later, in the 20th century, an advertisement was still a tool to meet a partner. The familiars asked by colonizers to help in selecting women in the 19th century became marriage agencies. With the liberalization of borders policies, more opportunities for international marriages appeared. If previously men-colonizers were searching for women of the same origin, in the 20th century, men began willing to marry someone of a different origin.
Modern times and the Internet
Nowadays, the concept of mail order bride is mostly used to describe a girl looking for marriage with a man abroad on the internet. Many international online dating sites are aiming to match people from different countries but with the same plans. Girls register on them providing much personal information and actively searching for decent partners. Dating sites compete, so they`re trying to offer exceptional services, and you have a wide range to find the most appropriate one. Don`t miss your chance for a beautiful love story!
