User:Swarabakti/La Malinche

Marina or Malintzin (c. 1500 – c. 1529), more popularly known as La Malinche, was a woman from a minor Mesoamerican polity in the Gulf of Mexico who acted as an interpreter for Hernan Cortés in the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. She, alongside 19 other slave women, were given to Cortés by a Maya group as part of a peace arrangement at Potonchán during the early days of Cortés's expedition. Malinche was a polyglot; she was able to converse in Nahuatl, Mayan, and, later, Spanish.

The real historical figure of Malinche has been obscured through legends and myths. Her figure if often mixed with the legendary La Llorona. Malinche is viewed differently by different groups … in 1980, a statue of her and Cortés was moved to a marginal place in the wake of a protest. Malinche legacy ... The Mexican word malinchismo and malinchista is often used …

Malinche left no records personally... information has to be mined from other witnesses... and partly reconstructed by historians... but we cant be sure.

Primary sources.... Díaz, Gómara, Cortés, Nahuas, legal documents, probanzas ... discussion...

The historical figure of Malinche and her role as an interpreter has been studied most comprehensively by the historian Camilla Townsend and the linguist cum historian Frances Karttunen. Her representation in literature and popular imagination has also been studied by literary critics Sandra Messinger Cypess.

Malinche is known by many names.^[1][2] She was baptized as Marina,^[3][4] and was referred to as such by the Spanish, often preceded with honorific doña.^[5][6] The Nahuas called her Malintzin, derived from Malina (Nahuatl rendering of her Spanish name) and the honorific suffix -tzin.^[7] According to Townsend, a vocative suffix -e is sometimes added at the end of the name, giving the form Malintzine, which would be shortened to Malintze, and heard by the Spanish as Malinche.^[7][a] Another possibility is that the Spanish simply did not heard the “whispered” -n of the name Malintzin.^[9]

Her name at birth is unknown.^[3][10][11] It has been popularly assumed since at least the 19th century^[12] that she was originally named “Malinalli”^[b] (Nahuatl for “grass”), after the day sign on which she was supposedly born,^[15] and that Marina was chosen as her Christian name on account of phonetic similarity,^[13] but modern historians have rejected this proposition.^[3][12] The Nahuas associate the day sign Malinalli with bad or even “evil” connotations,^[3][15][16] and they are known to avoid using such “ill-omened” day signs as personal names.^[3][17] Moreover, there would be little reason for the Spaniards to inquire the natives what their personal names were before christening them with similar-sounding Spanish names.^[18]

Another title that is often assumed to be part of her original name is “Tenepal”. This, according to Karttunen, originated as an annotation made by the Nahua historian Chimalpahin on his copy of Gómara's biography of Cortés, which says that Marina was also known as "Malintzin Tenepal".^[12] Tenepal is most likely derived from the Nahuatl root tene which means “lip-possessor, one who speaks vigorously”^[10] or “one who has a facility with words”,^[19] and postposition -pal, which means “by means of”.^[10] Thus, Malintzin Tenepal is most likely intended to be a direct translation of Spanish doña Marina la lengua,^[9] with la lengua ("the interpreter", literally "the tongue"^[20]) being her Spanish sobriquet.^[12]

Malinche's birthdate is unknown,^[13] but it is estimated to be around 1500, and likely no later than 1505.^[21][22][c] She was born in an altepetl that was either a part or a tributary of a Mesoamerican state which center was located in the bank of the Coatzacoalcos River to the east of the Aztec Empire.^[23][d] Records disagree about the exact name of the altepetl where she was born into.^[26][27] In three unrelated legal proceedings that occured not long after her death, various witnesses who claimed to have known her personally, including her own daughter, said that she was born in Olutla. The probanza of her grandson also mentioned Olutla as her birthplace.^[26] Her daughter also added that the altepetl of Olutla was related to Tetiquipaque, although the nature of this relationship is unclear.^[23] In the Florentine Codex, Malinche's homeland is mentioned as "Teticpac", which could be the singular form of Tetiquipaque.^[26] Gómara wrote that she came from “Uiluta” (presumably a variant of Olutla), although he departs from other sources by writing that it was in the region of Jalisco. Díaz, on the other hand, gave "Painalla" as her birthplace.^[27][26]

Her family is reported to be of noble background;^[27] Gómara writes that her father was related to a local ruler,^[28] while Diaz recounts that her parents themselves were rulers.^[29] Townsend notes that while Olutla at the time probably had a Popoluca majority, the ruling elites, where Malinche supposedly belonged to, would have been Nahuatl-speaking.^[28] Another hint that supports her noble origin is her apparent ability to understand the courtly language of tecpillahtolli (“lordly speech”), a Nahuatl register that is significantly different from the commoner's speech and has to be learned.^[27][30] The fact that she was often referred to as a doña, at the time when it was not commonly used even in Spain, also indicates that she was viewed as a noblewoman,^[14] although it is also possible that the honorific was attributed to her because of her important role in the conquest.^[11]

Probably between the age of 8 and 12,^[31] Malinche was either sold or kidnapped into slavery.^[9][32] Díaz famously wrote that after her father's death, she was given away to merchants by her mother and stepfather so that their own son (Malinche's stepbrother) can succeed as heir.^[31][27] Some scholars, historians and literary critics alike, have cast doubt upon Díaz's account of her origin.^[14][31][33] Nevertheless, it is likely that some of her own people were involved in the smuggling of her to the slave market.^[31] Malinche was taken to Xicalango,^[34] a major port city in the region.^[35] She was later purchased by a group of Chontal Maya who brought her to the town of Potonchán. It was here that Malinche started to learn the Chontal Maya language, and perhaps also Yucatec Maya.^[34][e] This would later enabled her to communicate with Jerónimo de Aguilar, another Cortés's interpreter who also spoke Yucatec Maya, alongside his native Spanish.^[36]

The Spaniards had previously sent several expeditions to Mesoamerica ....

Early in the expedition, Cortés was confronted by the Mayas at Potonchán.^[29] After suffering a significant loss of lives in the battle that ensued, the Mayas asked for peace, and in the following days, presented the Spaniards with gifts of food and gold, as well as twenty slave women. Malinche was one of the women presented to the Spaniards.^[37][38] She and the other women were baptized and subsequently distributed among Cortés's men, not only as servants, but also to provide sexual services.^{[38][27][36][f]} Malinche was given to Alonso Hernández Puertocarrero, one of Cortés's captains^[36] who was also a first cousin to the count of Cortes's hometown Medellín.^[39]

Malinche's linguistic gift went undiscovered^[27] until the Spaniards first encounter with the Nahuatl-speaking people at San Juan de Ulúa.^[42][36] Moctezuma's emissaries had come to inquire them,^[43] but Aguilar found himself unable to understand their words.^[42] When it came to realization that Malinche was able to converse with them, she and Aguilar was set aside by Cortés, who, according to Gómara, promised her “more than liberty” if she would assist him in finding and communicating with Moctezuma.^[42][27] Cortes took Malinche back from Puertocarrero,^[36] who was later given another indigenous woman before being sent back to Spain.^[44][45] Through Aguilar and Malinche, Cortés talked with Moctezuma's emissaries. The emissaries also brought artists to make paintings of Malinche, Cortés, and the rest of the group, as well as their ships and weapons, to be sent as records for Moctezuma.^[46][47] Diaz later said that Cortés was also addressed as "Malinche" by the Nahuas;^[48][36] they apparently took her as a point of reference for the group.^[49][g]

From then on, Malinche would work together with Aguilar to bridge communication between the Spaniards and the Nahuas;^[27][46] Cortés would speak Spanish with Aguilar, who then translated into Yucatec Maya for Malinche, who in turn translated into Nahuatl, before reversing the process.^[52] The translation chain grew even longer when, after the emissaries left, they met the Totonacs,^[53] who spoke a language that was unintelligible to both Malinche and Aguilar. There, Malinche asked for Nahuatl interpreters.^[41][54] Karttunen remarks that “it is a wonder any communication was accomplished at all”, for Cortés's Spanish words had to be translated into Maya, Nahuatl, and Totonac before reaching the locals, whose answers then went back through the same chain.^[41] From the meeting with the Totonacs, Cortés learned of those who were hostile to Moctezuma.^[54] According to Ross Hassig, this meeting was also a major turning point that “set Cortes's course irrevocably towards conquest”.^[53] After securing an alliance with the Totonacs and founding the town of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, they started the march towards Tenochtitlan.^[55]

The first major polity that they encounter on the way to Tenochtitlan was Tlaxcala.^[56] Although the Tlaxcalans were initially hostile to the Spaniards and their allies,^[57] they later permitted the Spaniards to enter the city.^[58][59] The Tlaxcalans negotiated an alliance with the Spaniards through Malinche and Aguilar. Years later, the city council of Tlaxcala commissioned a series of lienzos (paintings on a large piece of cloth) to depict the events during the conquest, including their first meeting with the Spaniards.^[48] These lienzos—and copies of them, often collectively referred to as Lienzo de Tlaxcala—was probably inspired by commemorative wall paintings, or teccali, in the king's domicile at Tizatlan.^[60] A fragmentary copy of a 16th-century codex includes four scenes depicting the meeting, probably based either on the lienzo^[48] or the original teccali.^[60] In these scenes, Malinche appears prominently, bridging the communication between the two sides as the Tlaxcalans gave the Spaniards gifts of food and noblewomen to cement the alliance.^[48][61] After several days in Tlaxcala, Cortes continued the journey to Tenochtitlan by the way of Cholula, accompanied by a large number of Tlaxcalan soldiers.^[48][62]

The Spaniards were received at Cholula and housed for several days, until, as the Spaniards claimed, the Cholulans stopped giving them food, dug secret pits, built a barricade around the city, and hid a large Aztec army in the outskirt in preparation for an attack against the Spaniards.^[63][48] Somehow, the Spaniards learned of this plot, and, in a preemptive strike, assembled and massacred the Cholulans.^[63] Later accounts specifically claimed that the plot was uncovered by Malinche. According to this story, she was approached by a Cholulan noblewoman who promised her a marriage to the woman's son if she were to switch side. Malinche, pretending to go along with the suggestion, learned from the woman about the plot, and reported all the details to Cortes.^[64][65] This story has often been cited as an example of Malinche's “betrayal” to her people.^[9] However, the veracity of it has been questioned by modern historians.^[65][66] It has been suggested that the Tlaxcalans were the real mastermind behind the massacre. Cholula had previously supported Tlaxcala before joining the Aztec Empire one or two years prior, and losing them as an ally was a hard hit for the Tlaxcalans, whose state was now completely encircled by the Aztecs.^[63][66][67] It is possible that the attack on the Cholulans was in fact a test from the Tlaxcalans for the Spaniards' trustworthiness.^[63][67] In this view, thus, Malinche's “heroic” story is only a part of the justification for the massacre.^[65]

Leaving Cholula, the combined forces continued the march to Tenochtitlan.^[66] They entered Tenochtitlan in early November 1519, and was met by Moctezuma in a causeway leading to the city.^[68] Malinche was in the middle of this event, translating the conversation between Cortes and Moctezuma.^[32][69] Gomara writes that Moctezuma was "speaking through Malinche and Aguilar", although other records indicate that Malinche was already translating directly,^[32] as she had quickly learned some Spanish herself.^[36] Moctezuma's flowery speech delivered through Malinche at the meeting has been claimed by the Spaniards to represent a submission, but this interpretation is not followed by modern historians.^[30][69] The deferential nature of the speech can be explained by Moctezuma's usage of tecpillahtolli, a Nahuatl register known for its indirection and complex set of reverential affixes.^[30][70] Despite Malinche's apparent ability to understand tecpillahtolli, it is possible that some nuances were lost in translation,^[30] and the Spanish, deliberately or not, may have misinterpreted Moctezuma's actual words.^[69]

Spanish records claim that after a week, Cortes detained Moctezuma and rule the empire through him.^[h] In ??? 1520, news came to them that a group from Cuba had arrived at the coast to arrest Cortes. Malinche was brought to the coast with Cortes, leaving the group in Tenochtitlan without interpreters other than some Spaniards that had started to learn Nahuatl themselves. Toxcatl massacre... La Noche Triste...

Back to Tlaxcala.... Fall of Tenochtitlan .... depiction

Relationship with Cortes (Karttunen vs Townsend, Restall change of view). Martin, Coyohuacan, Gifts from the Native, 1522 conquest of Coatzalcoalcos.

Expedition to Honduras... marriage to Jaramillo (analysis, see Townsend) Dowry... touch about later legal battle

Maria, Jaramillo became alcalde, Martin brought to Spain, legitimation. Discussion... (Townsend, Karttunen)

Death .... dates, discussion about the cause of

Malinche linguistic abilities.... Apparently, she was also able to understand the Maya variety spoken in Peten, and, not least, the many dialects of Nahuatl spoken throughout the Aztec Empire. Karttunen remarks that her ability to “screen out superficial differences” between different language varieties was “unusual” and plays significant role in easing the communication between the conquistadors and the indigenous people.^[71]

However, Malinche was only one of the many interpreters brought upon the Spaniards. The conquistadors had always routinely searched for interpreters, and previously depended upon indigenous captives to bridge their communication with the locals.^[72][73] Two Maya prisoners were taken by the Cordoba expedition in 1517 and were taught Spanish for use as interpreters in later period.^[72][74]

The conquest would still happened even without Malinche and if not by Cortes.... improportionate blame to her...

Early views of Malinche... Malinche as a woman of power....

Malinche as a traitor and temptress.... "the fucked mother of nation”.... Cholula incident …. But even if the story was true, Malinche did not owe loyalty to the Cholulans (as she was clearly not one of them), and that she herself have no way to know whether the offer was honest.^[64]

Malinche as a victim... feminism revisionists... Malinche as victim with agency; a survivor.... modern historians.

However, the view that Malinche was a victim with agency, in Restall's words, is still “a modern projection […] and not of an Aztec woman of the 16th century.” Malinche may not have been....

Malinche of history and Malinche of myth... has been associated with La Llorona.... danza de la conquista...