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La Malinche (c.1505 – c.1529, some sources give 1551), known also as Malintzin and Doña Marina, was an Indigenous woman (almost certainly Nahua) from the Mexican Gulf Coast, who accompanied Hernán Cortés and played an active and powerful role in the Spanish conquest of Mexico, acting as interpreter, advisor and intermediary. She was mistress to Cortés, and bore him a son, who is considered one of the first Mestizos, the Indian/European mixed-race people who make up the majority of Mexico's population. In Mexico today, Malinche remains iconically potent, seen in various often conflicting aspects, including the embodiment of treachery, the quintessential victim ("La Chingada"), or simply as symbolic mother of the new Mexican people.
Life
Origins
There is little sure information regarding Malinche's background. Most of what is reported about her early life comes through the reports of Cortés' "official" biographer (Francisco López de Gómara), and some of Cortés' contemporary conquistadores, such as Andrés de Tapia and (most importantly) Bernal Díaz del Castillo, whose vibrant chronicles Verdadera Historia de la Conquista de Nueva España relate much of what is known. His version of her origin is a colorful story that seems far too romantic to be entirely credible, yet there is no evidence to the contrary.According to Díaz, Malinche was the noble first-born child of the lord of Paynala (near present-day Coatzacoalcos, then a "frontier" region between the Aztec Empire and the Maya states of the Yucatán Peninsula). In her youth, her father died and her mother remarried and bore a son. Now an inconvenient stepchild, the girl was sold or given to Maya slave-traders from Xicalango, an important commercial town further south and east along the coast. Díaz claims Malinche's family faked her death by telling the townspeople that a recently deceased child of a slave was Malinche. At some point, she was given or sold again, and was taken to Potonchan, where she was ultimately given to the Spaniards.
More on [ La Malinche ]
@dacrux yo iba a decir Hernán Cortés y la Malinche... pero era demasiado lejano...
lasoma (MarÃa M. ) Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:00:56 -0000
@dacrux yo iba a decir Hernán Cortés y la Malinche... pero era demasiado lejano...
Got up at 6 with my grandma Getting ready for mass lunch at La Malinche's Then, Cowboys n Giants game @ former Judge Woodrow Bean's casa
RosalieEsco (Rosalie Escobedo) Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:31:35 -0000
Got up at 6 with my grandma Getting ready for mass lunch at La Malinche's Then, Cowboys n Giants game @ former Judge Woodrow Bean's casa
malinche
anisrl (anisrl) Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:17:41 -0000
malinche
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A Historic Figure Is Still Hated by Many in Mexico - New York Times articles gives overview of modern interpretations of Malinche's role, and presents the house where she lived with Cortes in Mexico City.
La Malinche: Creator or Traitor? - Translator/Interpreter Hall of Fame entry focuses on her role as a translator, with a discussion of the derivations of her name and titles. [English/Spanish]
Malinche - Description from Bernal Diaz del Castillo's The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico, with photos of modern Mexican monuments, and links to articles in English and Spanish.
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Malintzin, Malinche, Doña Marina - Short academic article, with bibliography, analyzes contemporary and modern accounts of her role in the Spanish conquest.
Reinterpreting Malinche - Academic article, with notes, considers how Mexican's perceptions of Malinche have changed through the centuries.
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