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Yes! In fact, they were extraordinarily lucky. Cortés and his merry men entered Mexico in 1519 without knowing a single word of any of the local languages. However, on their approach to Veracruz along the Yucatán coastline, they discovered - and rescued - a Spanish friar named Gerónimo de Aguilar who had been shipwrecked 8 years before, in 1511. Together with a companion, Aguilar had been captured by the local Maya people and had learned to speak their language.
Early on in the Spanish Conquest of Mexico, the Conquistadores were offered a group of slave women by Maya chiefs. One of the slaves happened to be a young woman - legend has it of great beauty - who had been sold to the Maya by traders belonging to the Mexica (Aztec) empire some time before. She still spoke her native Aztec tongue of Náhuatl but she had by then learned Maya. Her name was Malintzin (the Spanish called her Doña Marina, showing that they held her in great respect; today she is referred to as ‘La Malinche’).
In the early months of the Conquest, then, Cortés had to speak Spanish to Gerónimo de Aguilar, who translated this into Maya to Malintzin, who in turn translated this into Náhuatl for the Mexica. Talk about Chinese whispers! Of course eventually Malintzin learned to speak Spanish herself, so that when Cortés came to meet Moctezuma face to face, there was only need for the one interpreter, Malintzin. De Aguilar faded into obscurity. Only recently have people realised just what a crucial role she played in bringing about victory for the Spanish. Cortés may well not have won if it hadn’t been for the legendary skill and cunning of Malintzin...
Photos:-
• Malintzin (detail of a folding screen mural by Roberto Cueva del Río) by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore
• Statue of Gonzalo Guerrero in Akumal, Mexico, courtesy of Edward Ferguson