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Throughout history, many, if not most marriages were arranged by the spouses' parents,

In the West, that began to change around 1600, but many cultures continue to arrange marriages.

Are arranged marriages loving? Many Americans might express doubts.

But a recent study of five cultures shows that arranged marriages are often quite loving.

Throughout history, across hundreds of cultures worldwide, male-female marriage has been almost ubiquitous. From ancient times until the 17th century, almost all marriages were arranged by the future spouses’ families. Love between bride and groom was largely irrelevant. What mattered most was how marriages impacted the two families’ alliances and finances.

In Western Europe, arranged marriages were the norm until around 1600, when free-choice marriages—also known as love marriages—began becoming popular, eventually replacing the arranged variety. In Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, written in 1591, Baptista Mirola looks to arrange marriages for his two daughters, Katherine and Bianca. Katherine’s is arranged, and Baptista is auditioning men to find a spouse for Bianca. But she rebels, and elopes with a suitor she freely chooses. In Shakespeare’s other plays, marriages are often arranged, but there are plenty of free-choice love unions: Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, and Othello and Desdemona to name a few.

Western European colonization of what became the United States began after 1600, just as arranged marriage began yielding to love marriage. In the U.S., love marriage has long been the norm. But throughout American history, various ethnic groups have arranged........

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