Malintzin en medio de la Conquista

Abstract

An essential figure for the purposes of the Spaniards who disembarked on the island of Cozumel in 1519 under the leadership of Hernán Cortés was undoubtedly the so-called Malinche, who in the 18th century was dubbed Malintzin Tenépatl by Francisco Javier Clavijero. The participation of this “native woman” in the Spanish party in Centla, Tabasco, after the defeat of the Maya-Chontal people, whose cacique she was serving, was one of the famous acts of fate that favored and facilitated the Spanish conquest of an immense territory occupied by Mesoamerican civilization. Although Spanish and native women were involved on the fringes of the 16th-century encounter, the exception was the Malinche, who operated on the same level as the men at the top of the command and decisionmaking processes, and in planning and political negotiation.