La Malinche – The Princess who helped bring down the Aztec Empire

La Malinche has often been viewed as a traitor to her own people.^[1] She was an indigenous princess who helped Hernan Cortes bring down the Aztec Empire. She has often been portrayed as deceitful and a trickster.^[2] Yet, modern-day historians are very sympathetic to La Malinche.^[3] She has been a victim of an institution that forced her into slavery.^[4] While La Malinche’s reputation was very controversial, it is clear that she made a profound impact on Mexican history.

La Malinche’s original name was unknown.^[5] Malinche was mostly a corrupted form of the Nahuatl name of Malintzin.^[6] Her origins are still unclear.^[7] Yet, it is generally agreed by historians who derived La Malinche’s early life from the Spanish conquistador named Bernard Diaz del Castillo, who knew her mother, that La Malinche was a princess of Painalla (a town on the southern borders of the Aztec Empire).^[8] Her father was the Chief of Painalla.^[9] Her father died when she was young.^[10] Her mother married the next chief and had a son.^[11] She viewed her daughter, La Malinche, as a threat to her son’s inheritance of Painalla.^[12] Therefore, she decided to sell her into slavery.^[13] La Malinche was at first sold to the Aztec tribe of Xicalango.^[14] The Xicalango then sold her to the tribe of Tabasco.^[15]

In 1519, the tribe of Tabasco gifted twenty slave women to Hernan Cortes.^[16] One of these slaves was La Malinche.^[17] They were baptised and converted to Catholicism. La Malinche was given the christened name Marina.^[18] Hernan Cortes gave her to one of his captains named Alonso Hernández de Puertocarrera.^[19] Thus, La Malinche seemed very insignificant to him.^[20] Yet, La Malinche would soon prove to Hernan Cortes that she was a valuable asset.

La Malinche was described as being beautiful and intelligent.^[21] She could speak seven Mayan dialects. Yet, she was most useful for speaking Nahuatl, which was the Aztec language.^[22] After she was bought by the Spanish, she managed to learn Spanish within a few weeks.^[23] Therefore, La Malinche would prove to be very useful to Hernan Cortes, whose main goal was to conquer the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.^[24] Before Hernan Cortes discovered La Malinche’s talent, he used a Spanish priest named Gerónimo de Aguilar.^[25] However, Gerónimo de Aguilar only knew the Mayan language and not Nahuatl.^[26]

In July 1519, Hernan Cortes established a small garrison in Veracruz.^[27] Yet, he could not communicate with the natives there because they spoke Nahuatl, and Gerónimo de Aguilar could not help him because he did not know the language.^[28] However, La Malinche gained Hernan Cortes’s attention by proving that she could speak the Nahuatl language.^[29] Therefore, Hernan Cortes began to rely on La Malinche for information and no longer needed Gerónimo de Aguilar.^[30] Cortes sent La Malinche to ask the local chief at Veracruz to request a meeting between Moctezuma II (the Aztec Emperor) and Hernan Cortes.^[31] However, Emperor Moctezuma II refused to meet with him.^[32] Hernan Cortes initially did not want bloodshed because he was afraid he would lose many of his troops.^[33] He used La Malinche to try to persuade the Aztecs to give him gold.^[34] However, Emperor Moctezuma II’s refusal led Hernan Cortes with the choice to conquer the Aztec Empire.^[35]

Hernan Cortes left Veracruz and eventually made his way north to Cempoala. Once he arrived, he learned the Chief of Cempoala was scared of the tax collectors from the Aztec capital.^[36] Hernan Cortes used La Malinche to convince the chief to imprison the Tenochtitlan’s tax collectors.^[37] The chief then befriended and became a Spanish ally.^[38] However, Hernan Cortes secretly released two of the tax collectors sent from the capital as a request to befriend Emperor Moctezuma II.^[39] When the Cempoalans learned what Hernan Cortes had done, they realised there was no way of escaping their alliance with the Spanish conquistadors because Emperor Moctezuma II may want vengeance.^[40]

As the Spanish conquistadors continued to make their way to Tenochtitlan, they stopped at Cholula. However, the Cholulans made a secret plan to attack the Spanish conquistadors.^[41] La Malinche learned of the plot by befriending the wife of the Chief of Cholula.^[42] The chief’s wife begged La Malinche to switch sides.^[43] She told her that after the Spanish conquistadors were massacred, La Malinche could marry her son.^[44] La Malinche pretended to agree with the chief’s wife’s plan, but she relayed her plans to Hernan Cortes.^[45] The Spanish conquistadors massacred the Cholulan nobles.^[46] It was at this event that La Malinche first started to become a traitor who betrayed her own people.^[47] After Cholula was destroyed, La Malinche appeared at Hernan Cortes’s side and marched off to Tenochtitlan.^[48]

The meeting between La Malinche, Hernan Cortes, and Emperor Moctezuma II was one of the most pivotal events in Mexican history.^[49] It also showed La Malinche’s importance during the Spanish conquest. During the meeting, La Malinche was looking and speaking directly to Emperor Moctezuma II.^[50] When she and the Spanish conquistadors were installed in the palace, she summoned the servants to give them food.^[51] She also summoned the Aztec nobles to give the Spanish supplies.^[52] The Aztec nobles also talked to her and not to Hernan Cortes.^[53] She was even given more gold than Hernan Cortes.^[54] Therefore, La Malinche was not solely an interpreter. Instead, she was Hernan Cortes’s assistant and his mistress.^[55] La Malinche was the most respected woman during the Spanish conquest.^[56]

On 1 July 1520, La Malinche managed to survive and escape during the Night of Sorrows. When the Spanish learned that she had survived that tragic night, they were relieved and joyful.^[57] In 1521, the Spanish conquistadors managed to destroy Tenochtitlan and capture Cuauhtémoc (the last Aztec Emperor). The fall of Tenochtitlan made La Malinche a very wealthy woman in the Spanish Empire.^[58] La Malinche then settled in Coyoacán (which was located in present-day Mexico City). In 1523, La Malinche bore Hernan Cortes an illegitimate son named Martin.^[59] Historians believe he was the first mestizo child born in the New World.^[60]

In 1524, La Malinche accompanied Hernan Cortez on an expedition to Honduras to put down a rebellion.^[61] En route, in Tiltepec, La Malinche married Captain Juan Jaramillo.^[62] This marriage gave La Malinche her freedom and made her a member of the Spanish nobility.^[63] Her dowry included the towns of Olutla and Xaltipan.^[64] After La Malinche left Honduras, she gave birth to a daughter named Maria Jaramillo in 1526.^[65] The couple settled in Orizaba, which was in Veracruz.^[66] In 1528, Hernan Cortes left for Spain with Martin, his illegitimate son.^[67] He did not take La Malinche with him.^[68] Historians believed that she died that same year, most likely due to smallpox.^[69]

La Malinche continues to be a divisive historical figure. Even though many viewed her to be a traitor, she was a pivotal figure during the events of the Spanish conquest. She was a very powerful and respected figure among both the Aztecs and the Spanish conquistadors.^[70] She also became the mother of the Mexican identity.^[71] La Malinche continues to be a popular icon. She has been the subject of movies, operas, plays, and novels.^[72] Through the use of historical records and popular media, La Malinche’s reputation will continue to be scrutinised and examined for many years to come.

Sources:

Cypess, S. M. (1991). La Malinche in Mexican Literature from History to Myth. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Del Castillo, A. R. (2013). La Malinche. In P. L. Mason (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Race and Racism (2nd ed.). Gale. Credo Reference.

Hinojosa, R. D. M. (2013). The Ideological Appropriation of La Malinche in Mexican and Chicana Literature (PDF, master’s thesis). University of North Texas. Retrieved on 2 February 2023 from https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc283831/m2/1/high_res_d/thesis.pdf.

“La Malinche Betrays the Aztecs: 1519–1524”. (2014). In J. Stock (Ed.), Global Events: Milestone Events Throughout History (Vol. 3). Gale.

McBride-Limaye, Ann (1988). “Metmorphoses of La Malinche and Mexican Cultural Identity,” Comparative Civilizations Review: Vol. 19 : No. 19, Article 2.