Marina () or Malintzin (; 1500 – 1529), more popularly known as La Malinche (), was a
Nahua
The Nahuas ( ) are a Uto-Nahuan ethnicity and one of the Indigenous people of Mexico, with Nahua minorities also in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. They comprise the largest Indigenous group in Mexico, as well as ...
woman from the
Mexican Gulf Coast, who became known for contributing to the
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was a pivotal event in the history of the Americas, marked by the collision of the Aztec Triple Alliance and the Spanish Empire. Taking place between 1519 and 1521, this event saw the Spanish conquistad ...
(1519–1521), by acting as an interpreter, advisor, and intermediary for the Spanish conquistador
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca (December 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions o ...
. She was one of 20 enslaved women given to the Spaniards in 1519 by the natives of
Tabasco
Tabasco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Tabasco, 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa.
It i ...
. Cortés chose her as a consort, and she later gave birth to their first son,
Martín – one of the first ''
Mestizos
( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to ...
'' (people of mixed
European and
Indigenous American ancestry) in
New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...
.
La Malinche's reputation has shifted over the centuries, as various peoples evaluate her role against their own societies' changing social and political perspectives. Especially after the
Mexican War of Independence
The Mexican War of Independence (, 16 September 1810 – 27 September 1821) was an armed conflict and political process resulting in Mexico's independence from the Spanish Empire. It was not a single, coherent event, but local and regional ...
, which led to Mexico's independence from Spain in 1821, dramas, novels, and paintings portrayed her as an evil or scheming temptress. In Mexico today, La Malinche remains a powerful icon – understood in various and often conflicting aspects as the embodiment of treachery, the quintessential victim, or the symbolic mother of the new
Mexican people
Mexicans () are the citizens and nationals of the Mexico, United Mexican States. The Mexican people have varied origins with the most spoken language being Spanish language, Spanish, but many also speak languages from 68 different Languages o ...
. The term ''
malinchista'' refers to a disloyal compatriot, especially in Mexico.
Name
Malinche is known by many names, though her birth name is unknown. Malinche was
baptized
Baptism (from ) is a Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three ...
in the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
and given the
Christian name
A Christian name, sometimes referred to as a baptismal name, is a religious personal name given on the occasion of a Christian baptism, though now most often given by parents at birth. In English-speaking cultures, a person's Christian name ...
"Marina", often preceded by the
honorific
An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an Honorary title (academic), h ...
. The Nahua called her ''Malintzin'', derived from ''Malina'', a
Nahuatl
Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...
rendering of her Spanish name, and the honorific suffix . According to historian
Camilla Townsend, the
vocative
In grammar, the vocative case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which is used for a noun that identifies a person (animal, object, etc.) being addressed or occasionally for the noun modifiers (determiners, adjectives, participles, and numeral ...
suffix is sometimes added at the end of the name, giving the form ''Malintzine'', which would be shortened to ''Malintze'', and heard by the Spaniards as ''Malinche''. Another possibility is that the Spaniards simply did not hear the “whispered” of the name ''Malintzin''.
The title ''Tenepal'' was often assumed to be part of her name. In the annotation made by Nahua historian
Chimalpahin
Domingo Francisco de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin (1579, Amecameca, Chalco1660, Mexico City), usually referred to simply as Chimalpahin or Chimalpain, was a Nahua annalist from Chalco. His Nahuatl names () mean "Runs Swiftl ...
on his copy of Gómara's biography of Cortés, ''Malintzin Tenepal'' is used repeatedly about Malinche. According to linguist and historian
Frances Karttunen
Frances Esther Karttunen (born 1942), also known as Frances Ruley Karttunen, is an American academic linguist, historian and author.
Education and career
She received her BA in 1964 from Harvard and her PhD in 1970 from Indiana University Bloom ...
, ''Tenepal'' is probably derived from the Nahuatl
root
In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...
', which means "lip-possessor, one who speaks vigorously", or "one who has a facility with words", and
postposition
Adpositions are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in, under, towards, behind, ago'', etc.) or mark various semantic roles (''of, for''). The most common adpositions are prepositions (which precede their complemen ...
, which means "through". Historian
James Lockhart, however, suggests that ''Tenepal'' might be derived from , "somebody’s tongue". In any case, ''Malintzin Tenepal'' appears to have been a
literal translation
Literal translation, direct translation, or word-for-word translation is the translation of a text done by translating each word separately without analysing how the words are used together in a phrase or sentence.
In translation theory, anoth ...
of Spanish , with , "the interpreter", literally meaning "the tongue", being her Spanish
sobriquet
A sobriquet ( ) is a descriptive nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. A sobriquet is distinct from a pseudonym in that it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name without the need for explanation; it may beco ...
.
Since at least the 19th century, she was believed to have originally been named ''Malinalli'', (Nahuatl for "grass"), after the
day sign on which she was supposedly born.
If so, Marina would have been chosen as her
baptismal name
A Christian name, sometimes referred to as a baptismal name, is a religious name, religious personal personal name, name given on the occasion of a Christian baptism, though now most often given by parents at birth. In Anglosphere, English-spe ...
because of its
phonetic
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds or, in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians ...
similarity. Modern historians have rejected such mythic suggestions, noting that the Nahua associate the day sign ''Malinalli'' with bad or "evil" connotations, and they are known to avoid using such day signs as personal names. Moreover, there would be little reason for the Spaniards to ask the natives what their names were before they were christened with new names after Catholic saints.
Life
Background

Malinche's birthdate is unknown, but it is estimated to be around 1500, and likely no later than 1505. She was born in an that was either a part of or a
tributary
A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...
of a Mesoamerican state whose center was located on the bank of the
Coatzacoalcos River
The Coatzacoalcos is a large river that feeds mainly the south part of the state of Veracruz; it originates in the Sierra de Niltepec and crosses the state of Oaxaca in the region of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, flowing for toward the Gulf of M ...
to the east of the Aztec Empire. Records disagree about the exact name of the where she was born. In three unrelated legal proceedings that occurred not long after her death, various witnesses who claimed to have known her personally, including her daughter, said that she was born in
Olutla. The of her grandson also mentioned Olutla as her birthplace. Her daughter added that the of Olutla was related to Tetiquipaque, although the nature of this relationship is unclear. In the ''
Florentine Codex'', Malinche's homeland is mentioned as "Teticpac", which is most likely the singular form of Tetiquipaque. Gómara writes that she came from "Uiluta" (presumably a variant of ''Olutla''). He departs from other sources by writing that it was in the region of
Jalisco
Jalisco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in western Mexico and is bordered by s ...
. Díaz, on the other hand, gives "Painalla" as her birthplace.
Her family is reported to have been of noble background; Gómara writes that her father was related to a local ruler, while Díaz recounts that her parents were rulers. Townsend notes that while Olutla at the time probably had a
Popoluca
Popoluca is a Nahuatl term for various Indigenous peoples of southeastern Veracruz and Oaxaca. Many of them (about 30,000 -speaking majority, the ruling elite, which Malinche supposedly belonged to, would have been Nahuatl-speaking. Another hint that supports her noble origin is her apparent ability to understand the courtly language of ("lordly speech"), a Nahuatl
register
Register or registration may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Music
* Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc.
* ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller
* Registration (organ), ...
that is significantly different from the commoner's speech and has to be learned. The fact that she was often referred to as a , at the time a term in Spain not commonly used when referring to someone outside of the aristocracy, indicates that she was viewed as a noblewoman. But she may have been given this honorific by the Spanish because of recognition of her important role in the conquest.
Malinche was probably between the ages of 8 and 12 when she was either sold or kidnapped into slavery. Díaz wrote that after her father's death, she was given away to merchants by her mother and stepfather so that their son (Malinche's halfbrother) would have the rights of an
heir
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...
. Scholars, historians, and literary critics alike have cast doubt upon Díaz's account of her origin, in large part due to his strong emphasis on
Catholicism
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
throughout his narration of the events.
In particular, historian Sonia Rose de Fuggle analyzes Díaz's over-reliance on
polysyndeton
Polysyndeton (from Ancient Greek and ) is the deliberate insertion of conjunctions into a sentence in order to slow the rhythm of the prose so as to produce an impressively solemn note.
In grammar, a polysyndetic coordination is a coordi ...
(which mimics the sentence structure of many Biblical stories) as well as his overarching portrayal of Malinche as an ideal Christian woman. But Townsend believes that it was likely that some of her people were complicit in
trafficking
Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...
her, regardless of the reason. Malinche was taken to Xicalango, a major port city in the region. She was later purchased by a group of Chontal Maya who brought her to the town of
Potonchán
Potonchán, was a Chontal Maya city, capital of the minor kingdom known as ''Tavasco'' or ''Tabasco''. It occupied the left bank of the Tabasco River, which the Spanish renamed the Grijalva River, in the current Mexican state of Tabasco.
Juan d ...
. It was here that Malinche started to learn the
Chontal Maya language
(self-denomination), also known as Chontal Maya, is a Maya language of the Cholan family spoken in 2020 by around 60,000 Chontal Maya people of the Mexican state of Tabasco. According to the National Catalog of Indigenous Languages of Mexico- ...
, and perhaps also
Yucatec Maya
Yucatec Maya ( ; referred to by its speakers as or ) is a Mayan languages, Mayan language spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula, including part of northern Belize. There is also a significant diasporic community of Yucatec Maya speakers in San Fra ...
. Her acquisition of the language later enabled her to communicate with
Jerónimo de Aguilar, another interpreter for Cortes who also spoke Yucatec Maya, as well as his native Spanish.
The conquest of Mexico
Early in
his expedition to Mexico, Cortés was confronted by the Maya at Potonchán. In the ensuing battle, the Mayas suffered significant loss of lives and asked for peace. In the following days, they presented the Spaniards with gifts of food and gold, as well as twenty enslaved women, including Malinche. The women were baptized and distributed among Cortés's men, who expected to use them as servants and sexual objects. Malinche was given to
Alonso Hernández Puertocarrero
Alonso Hernández Puertocarrero (before 1495–1523) was a Spanish conquistador who was part of Hernán Cortés's expedition of conquest of what is today Mexico.
Biography
Conquest of Mexico
According to Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Puertocar ...
, one of Cortés' captains. He was a
first cousin
A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle.
More generally, in the lineal kinship, kinship system used in the English-s ...
to the
count
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
of Cortés's hometown,
Medellín
Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...
.
Malinche's language skills were discovered when the Spaniards encountered the Nahuatl-speaking people at
San Juan de Ulúa
San Juan de Ulúa, now known as Castle of San Juan de Ulúa, is a large complex of fortresses, prisons and one former palace on an island of the same name in the Gulf of Mexico overlooking the seaport of Veracruz, Mexico. Juan de Grijalva' ...
. Moctezuma's emissaries had come to inspect the peoples, but Aguilar could not understand them. Historian Gómara wrote that, when Cortés realized that Malinche could talk with the emissaries, he promised her "more than liberty" if she would help him find and communicate with Moctezuma. Cortés took Malinche from Puertocarrero. He was later given another Indigenous woman before he returned to Spain.
Aided by 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. Díaz later said that the Nahua addressed Cortés as "Malinche"; they took her as a point of reference for the group.
From then on, Malinche worked with Aguilar to bridge communication between the Spaniards and the Nahua; Cortés would speak Spanish with Aguilar, who translated into Yucatec Maya for Malinche, who in turn translated into Nahuatl, before reversing the process. The translation chain grew even longer when, after the emissaries left, the Spaniards met the
Totonac
The Totonac are an Indigenous people of Mexico who reside in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, and Hidalgo. They are one of the possible builders of the pre-Columbian city of El Tajín, and further maintained quarters in Teotihuacán (a cit ...
, whose language was not understood by either Malinche or Aguilar. There, Malinche asked for Nahuatl interpreters. Karttunen remarks that "it is a wonder any communication was accomplished at all", for Cortés' Spanish words had to be translated into Maya, Nahuatl, and
Totonac
The Totonac are an Indigenous people of Mexico who reside in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, and Hidalgo. They are one of the possible builders of the pre-Columbian city of El Tajín, and further maintained quarters in Teotihuacán (a cit ...
before reaching the locals, whose answers went back through the same chain. Meeting with the Totonac was how the Spaniards first learned of opponents to Moctezuma.

After founding the town of
Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz to be freed from the legal restriction of what was supposed to be an exploratory mission, the Spaniards stayed for two months in a nearby Totonac settlement. They secured a formal alliance with the Totonac and prepared for a march toward Tenochtitlan.
The first major polity that they encountered on the way to Tenochtitlan was
Tlaxcala
Tlaxcala, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala, is one of the 32 federal entities that comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Tlaxcala, 60 municipalities and t ...
. Although the
Tlaxcaltec
The Tlaxcallans, or Tlaxcaltec, are an indigenous Nahua people who originate from Tlaxcala, Mexico. The Confederacy of Tlaxcala was instrumental in overthrowing the Aztec Empire in 1521, alongside conquistadors from the Kingdom of Spain. The ...
were initially hostile to the Spaniards and their allies, they later permitted the Spaniards to enter the city. The Tlaxcalans negotiated an alliance with the Spaniards through Malinche and Aguilar. Later Tlaxcalan visual records of this meeting feature Malinche as a prominent figure. She appears to bridge communication between the two sides, as the Tlaxcalan presented the Spaniards with gifts of food and noblewomen to cement the alliance. After several days in Tlaxcala, Cortés continued the journey to Tenochtitlan by the way of
Cholula. By then he was accompanied by a large number of Tlaxcalan soldiers.
The Spaniards were received at Cholula and housed for several days. The explorers claimed that the Cholulans stopped giving them food, dug secret pits, built a barricade around the city, and hid a large Aztec army in the outskirts to prepare for an attack against the Spaniards. Somehow, the Europeans learned of this and, in a
preemptive strike
A preemptive war is a war that is commenced in an attempt to repel or defeat a perceived imminent offensive or invasion, or to gain a strategic advantage in an impending (allegedly unavoidable) war ''shortly before'' that attack materializes. I ...
, assembled and
massacred the Cholulans. Later accounts claimed that Malinche had uncovered the plot. According to Díaz, she was approached by a Cholulan noblewoman who promised her a marriage to the woman's son if she were to switch sides. Pretending to go along with the suggestion, Malinche was told about the plot and later reported all the details to Cortés.
In later centuries, this story has often been cited as an example of Malinche's "betrayal" of her people. But modern historians such as Hassig and Townsend have suggested that Malinche's "heroic" discovery of the purported plot was likely already a fabricated story intended to provide Cortés with political justification for his actions, to distant Spanish authorities. In particular, Hassig suggests that Cortés, seeking stronger native alliances leading to the invasion of Tenochtitlan, worked with the Tlaxcalans to coordinate the massacre. Cholula had supported Tlaxcala before joining the Aztec Empire one or two years prior, and losing them as an ally had been a severe blow to the Tlaxcalans. Their state was now completely encircled by the Aztecs. Hassig and other historians assert that Tlaxcalans considered the attack on the Cholulans as a "litmus test" of the Spanish commitment to them.
The combined forces reached Tenochtitlan in early November 1519, where they were met by Moctezuma on a causeway leading to the city. Malinche was in the middle of this event, translating the conversation between Cortés and Moctezuma. Gomara writes that Moctezuma was "speaking through Malinche and Aguilar", although other records indicate that Malinche was already translating directly, as she had quickly learned some Spanish herself. 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. The deferential nature of the speech can be explained by Moctezuma's usage of , a Nahuatl register known for its indirection and complex set of reverential affixes. Despite Malinche's apparent ability to understand , it is possible that some nuances were lost in translation. The Spaniards, deliberately or not, may have misinterpreted Moctezuma's words.
Tenochtitlán fell in late 1521 and Marina's son by Cortes,
Martín Cortés was born in 1522. During this time Malinche or Marina stayed in a house Cortés built for her in the town of Coyoacán, eight miles south of Tenochtitlán. The Aztec capital city was being redeveloped to serve as Spanish-controlled Mexico City. Cortés took Marina to help quell a rebellion in
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...
in 1524–1526 when she again served as interpreter (she may have known
Mayan languages
The Mayan languages In linguistics, it is conventional to use ''Mayan'' when referring to the languages, or an aspect of a language. In other academic fields, ''Maya'' is the preferred usage, serving as both a singular and plural noun, and a ...
beyond Chontal and Yucatec). While in the mountain town of
Orizaba
Orizaba (, Otomi: ) is a city and municipality in the Mexican state of Veracruz. It is located 20 km west of its sister city Córdoba, and is adjacent to Río Blanco and Ixtaczoquitlán, on Federal Highways 180 and 190. The city had a ...
in central Mexico, she married Juan Jaramillo, a Spanish
hidalgo. Some contemporary scholars have estimated that she died less than a decade after the conquest of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, at some point before February 1529. She was survived by her son Don Martín, who would be raised primarily by his father's family, and a daughter Doña María, who would be raised by Jaramillo and his second wife Doña Beatriz de Andrada.
Although Martín was Cortés's first-born son and eventual heir, his relation to Marina was poorly documented by prominent Spanish historians such as
Francisco López de Gómara
Francisco López de Gómara (February 2, 1511 – c. 1564) was a Spanish historian who worked in Seville, particularly noted for his works in which he described the early 16th century expedition undertaken by Hernán Cortés in the Spanish conqu ...
. He never referred to Marina by name, even in her work as Cortés's translator. Even during Marina's lifetime, she spent little time with Martín. But many scholars and historians have marked her multiracial child with Cortés as the symbolic beginning of the large
mestizo
( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...
population that developed in
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El S ...
.
Debates about influence and importance in the conquest of Mexico

For the
conquistador
Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...
es, having a reliable interpreter was important enough, but there is evidence that Marina's role and influence were larger still.
Bernal Díaz del Castillo
Bernal Díaz del Castillo ( 1492 – 3 February 1584) was a Spanish conquistador who participated as a soldier in the conquest of the Aztec Empire under Hernán Cortés and late in his life wrote an account of the events. As an experienced ...
, a soldier who, as an old man, produced the most comprehensive of the eye-witness accounts, the ''
Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España
() is a first-person narrative written in 1568 by military adventurer, conquistador, and colonist settler Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1492–1584), who served in three Mexican expeditions: those of Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (1517) t ...
'' ("True Story of the Conquest of New Spain"), speaks repeatedly and reverentially of the "great lady" Doña Marina (always using the honorific title Doña). "Without the help of Doña Marina", he writes, "we would not have understood the language of New Spain and Mexico." Rodríguez de Ocaña, another conquistador, relates Cortés' assertion that after God, Marina was the main reason for his success.
The evidence from Indigenous sources is even more interesting, both in the commentaries about her role, and in her prominence in the codex drawings made of conquest events. Although to some Marina may be known as a traitor, she was not viewed as such by all the Tlaxcalan. In some depictions they portrayed her as "larger than life," sometimes larger than Cortés, in rich clothing, and an alliance is shown between her and the Tlaxcalan instead of them and the Spaniards. They respected and trusted her and portrayed her in this light generations after the Spanish conquest.
In the ''
Lienzo de Tlaxcala (History of Tlaxcala)'', for example, not only is Cortés rarely portrayed without Marina poised by his side, but she is shown at times on her own, seemingly directing events as an independent authority. If she had been trained for court life, as in Díaz's account, her relationship with Cortés may have followed the familiar pattern of marriage among native elite classes. The role of the Nahua wife acquired through an alliance would have been to assist her husband achieve his military and diplomatic objectives.
Today's historians give great credit to Marina's diplomatic skills, with some "almost tempted to think of her as the real conqueror of Mexico." Old conquistadors on various occasions recalled that one of her greatest skills had been her ability to convince other natives of what she could perceive, that it was useless in the long run to stand against Spanish metal (arms) and Spanish ships. In contrast to earlier parts of Díaz del Castillo's account, after Marina began assisting Cortés, the Spanish were forced into combat on one more occasion.
Had La Malinche not been part of the Conquest of Mexico for her language skills, communication between the Spanish and the Indigenous peoples would have been much harder. La Malinche knew how to speak in different registers and tones among certain Indigenous tribes and classes of people. For the Nahua audiences, she spoke rhetorically, formally, and high-handedly. This shift into formality gave the Nahua the impression that she was a noblewoman who knew what she was talking about.
Image in contemporary Mexico

Malinche's image has become a mythical
archetype
The concept of an archetype ( ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, philosophy and literary analysis.
An archetype can be any of the following:
# a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main mo ...
that artists have represented in various forms of art. Her figure permeates historical, cultural, and social dimensions of Mexican cultures. In modern times and several genres, she is compared with
La Llorona
(; ) is a vengeful ghost in Hispanic American folklore who is said to roam near bodies of water mourning her children whom she drowned in a jealous rage after discovering her husband was unfaithful to her. Whoever hears her crying either suffer ...
(folklore story of the woman weeping for lost children), and the Mexican
soldaderas
''Soldaderas'', often called Adelitas, were women in the military who participated in the conflict of the Mexican Revolution, ranging from commanding officers to combatants to camp followers. "In many respects, the Mexican revolution was not o ...
(women who fought beside men during the
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...
) for their brave actions.
La Malinche's legacy is one of myth mixed with legend and the opposing opinions of the Mexican people about the legendary woman. Some see her as a founding figure of the Mexican nation, while others continue to see her as a traitor—as may be assumed from a legend that she had a twin sister who went North, and from the pejorative
nickname
A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...
''
La Chingada'' associated with her twin.
Feminist interventions into the figure of Malinche began in the 1960s. The work of
Rosario Castellanos
Rosario Castellanos Figueroa (; 25 May 1925 – 7 August 1974) was a Mexican poet and author. She was one of Mexico's most important literary voices in the last century. Throughout her life, she wrote eloquently about issues of cultural and gend ...
was particularly significant; Chicanas began to refer to her as a "mother" as they adopted her as symbolism for duality and complex identity. Castellanos's subsequent poem "La Mallinche" recast her not as a traitor but as a victim.
Mexican feminists defended Malinche as a woman caught between cultures, forced to make complex decisions, who ultimately served as a mother of a new race.
Today in
Mexican Spanish
Mexican Spanish () is the variety of dialects and sociolects of the Spanish language spoken in Mexico and its bordering regions. Mexico has the largest number of Spanish speakers, more than double any other country in the world. Spanish is spo ...
, the term ''
malinchism
Malinchism () is a Spanish term used primarily in Mexico to refer to excessive admiration for the people, culture, ideas, behaviors, and lifestyle of the United States, Europe and other foreign countries over those native to México.
It has bee ...
o'' and its adjetive ''malinchista'' are used to denounce Mexicans who are perceived as denying their
cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by socie ...
by preferring foreign cultural expressions.
Some historians believe that La Malinche saved her people from the Aztecs, who held a hegemony throughout the territory and demanded tribute from its inhabitants. Some Mexicans also credit her with having brought Christianity to the New World from Europe, and for having influenced Cortés to be more humane than he would otherwise have been. It is argued, however, that without her help, Cortés would not have been successful in conquering the Aztecs as quickly, giving the Aztec people enough time to adapt to new technology and methods of warfare. From that viewpoint, she is seen as one who betrayed the Indigenous people by siding with the Spaniards. Recently, several feminists have decried such categorization as
scapegoating
Scapegoating is the practice of singling out a person or group for unmerited blame and consequent negative treatment. Scapegoating may be conducted by individuals against individuals (e.g., "he did it, not me!"), individuals against groups (e.g ...
.
President
José López Portillo
José Guillermo Abel López Portillo y Pacheco (; 16 June 1920 – 17 February 2004) was a Mexican writer, lawyer, and politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who served as the 58th president of Mexico from 1976 ...
commissioned a sculpture of Cortés, Doña Marina, and their son Martín, which was placed in front of Cortés' house in the
Coyoacán
Coyoacán ( ; , Otomi: ) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. The former village is now the borough's "historic center". The name comes from Nahuatl and most likely means "place of coyotes", when the Aztecs named a pre- ...
section of Mexico City. Once López Portillo left office, the sculpture was removed to an obscure park in the capital.
In popular culture

* A reference to La Malinche as Marina is made in the novel ''
The Manuscript Found in Saragossa
''The Manuscript Found in Saragossa'' (; also known in English as ''The Saragossa Manuscript'') is a frame tale, frame-tale novel written in French language, French at the turn of 18th and 19th centuries by the Poland, Polish author Count Jan Pot ...
'' by the Polish author
Jan Potocki
Count Jan Potocki (; 8 March 1761 – 23 December 1815) was a Polish nobleman, ethnologist, linguist, traveller and author of the Enlightenment period, whose life and exploits made him a celebrated figure in Poland. He is known chiefly for his ...
, in which she is cursed for yielding her "heart and her country to the hateful Cortez, chief of the sea-brigands."
* La Malinche appears in the adventure novel ''
Montezuma's Daughter
''Montezuma's Daughter'', first published in 1892, is a novel by the Victorian literature, Victorian adventure writer H. Rider Haggard. Narrated in the first-person narrative, first person by Thomas Wingfield, an Englishman whose adventures incl ...
'' (1893) by
H. Rider Haggard
Sir Henry Rider Haggard (; 22 June 1856 – 14 May 1925) was an English writer of adventure fiction romances set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a pioneer of the lost world literary genre. He was also involved in land reform t ...
.
* Doña Marina appears in the Henry King film Adventure ''
Captain from Castile
''Captain from Castile'' is a 1947 American historical adventure film. It was released by 20th Century-Fox. Directed by Henry King, the Technicolor film stars Tyrone Power, Jean Peters, and Cesar Romero. Shot on location in Michoacán, Mexic ...
'' (1947) played Estela Inda.
* La Malinche is portrayed as a Christian and protector of her fellow native Mexicans in the novel ''Tlaloc Weeps for Mexico'' (1939) by
László Passuth, and is the main protagonist in such works as the novels ''The Golden Princess'' (1954) by
Alexander Baron and ''Feathered Serpent: A Novel of the Mexican Conquest'' (2002) by
Colin Falconer. In contrast, she is portrayed as a duplicitous traitor in
Gary Jennings' novel ''
Aztec
The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the Post-Classic stage, post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central ...
'' (1980). A novel published in 2006 by
Laura Esquivel
Laura Beatriz Esquivel Valdés (born 30 September 1950) is a Mexican novelist, screenwriter and politician, who served in the Chamber of Deputies for the Morena Party from 2015 to 2018. Her first novel ''Como agua para chocolate'' ('' Like Wat ...
portrays the main character as a pawn of history who becomes ''Malinche''.
* In 1949, choreographer José Limón premiered the dance trio "La Milanche" to music by Norman Lloyd. It was the first work created by Limón for his company and was based on his memories as a child of Mexican fiestas.
* The story of La Malinche is told in ''Cortez and Marina'' (1963) by
Edison Marshall
Edison Tesla Marshall (August 28, 1894 – October 29, 1967) was an American short story writer and novelist.
Life
Marshall was born on August 28, 1894, in Rensselaer, Indiana. He grew up in Medford, Oregon, and attended the University of Oregon ...
.
* In the 1973 Mexican film ''Leyendas macabras de la colonia'', La Malinche's mummy is in the possession of Luisa, her daughter by Hernán Cortés, while her spirit inhabits a cursed painting.
* La Malinche is referred to in the songs "
Cortez the Killer" from the 1975 album ''
Zuma'' by
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...
, and "La Malinche" by the French band
Feu! Chatterton
Feu! Chatterton is a French pop/rock band from Paris formed in 2011. Their name is an homage to the poet Thomas Chatterton
Thomas Chatterton (20 November 1752 – 24 August 1770) was an English poet whose precocious talents ended in sui ...
from their 2015 album ''Ici le jour (a tout enseveli)''
* In the animated television series ''
The Mysterious Cities of Gold
, known outside of Japan as the first season of ''The Mysterious Cities of Gold'' ( French: ''Les Mystérieuses Cités d'Or''), is an animated series which was produced by MK, NHK, DiC Audiovisuel, CLT and animated by Studio Pierrot.
Th ...
'' (1982), which chronicles the adventures of a Spanish boy and his companions traveling throughout South America in 1532 to seek the lost city of
El Dorado
El Dorado () is a mythical city of gold supposedly located somewhere in South America. The king of this city was said to be so rich that he would cover himself from head to foot in gold dust – either daily or on certain ceremonial occasions � ...
, a woman called Marinche becomes a dangerous adversary. The series was originally produced in Japan and then translated into English.
* In the fictional ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...
'' universe, a starship, the USS ''Malinche'', was named for La Malinche and appeared in the 1997 "
For the Uniform
"For the Uniform" is the 111th episode of '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', the 13th episode of the fifth season. First broadcast on February 3, 1997, the episode's premiere was watched by 5,680,000 viewers. It was written by Peter Allan Fields ...
" episode of ''
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''. This was done by
Hans Beimler, a native of
Mexico City
Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
, who together with friend
Robert Hewitt Wolfe later wrote a screenplay based on La Malinche called ''The Serpent and the Eagle''.
* La Malinche is the main character in the 2002 French novel (English: ''Cortés' Indian Woman'') by
Carole Achache.
* La Malinche is a key character in the opera ''
La Conquista'' (2005) by Italian composer
Lorenzo Ferrero
Lorenzo Ferrero (; born 1951) is an Italian composer, librettist, author, and book editor. He started composing at an early age and has written over a hundred compositions thus far, including twelve operas, three ballets, and numerous orchestral, ...
.
* Malinalli is the main character in a 2011 historical novel by Helen Heightsman Gordon, ''Malinalli of the Fifth Sun: The Slave Girl Who Changed the Fate of Mexico and Spain''.
* Author
Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, a ...
traces the root of mestizo and Mexican culture to La Malinche's child with Cortés in ''
The Labyrinth of Solitude
''The Labyrinth of Solitude'' () is a 1950 book-length essay by the Mexican poet Octavio Paz. One of his most famous works, it consists of nine parts: "The Pachuco and other extremes", "Mexican Masks", "The Day of the Dead", "The Sons of La Mali ...
'' (1950). He uses her relation to Cortés symbolically to represent Mexican culture as originating from rape and violation, but also holds Malinche accountable for her "betrayal" of the indigenous population, which Paz claims "the Mexican people have not forgiven."
* The novel Night of Sorrows by
Frances Sherwood is an account of the life of La Malinche (called Malitzín within the novel).
* Malinal is a character in
Graham Hancock
Graham Bruce Hancock (born 2 August 1950) is a British journalist and author who promotes pseudoscientific ideas about ancient civilizations and hypothetical lost lands. Hancock proposes that an advanced civilization with spiritual technology ...
's series of novels ''War God: Nights of the Witch'' (2013) and ''War God: Return of the Plumed Serpent'' (2014), which is a fictional story describing the events related to the Hernan Cortés' expedition to Mexico and the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire.
* Malinche is a character in Edward Rickford's ''The Serpent and the Eagle'', referred to variously as ''Dona Marina'' and ''Malintze''. The depiction of her character was praised by historical novelists and bloggers.
* La Malinche appears in the biographical Mexican series ''
Malinche'' in 2018, where she is portrayed by María Mercedes Coroy.
* La Malinche appears in the Amazon Prime series ''
Hernán''. She is portrayed by Ishbel Bautista.
* ''Malintzin: The Story of an Enigma''. Documentary of 2019 based on the life of La Malinche.
* La Malinche is referenced in the
Disney+
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
series ''
National Treasure: Edge of History''. In the series, she is portrayed as a double agent working to protect Aztec treasures from Cortés.
* In 2022, Spanish musician
Nacho Cano
Ignacio „Nacho“ Cano Andrés (b. Madrid, 26 February 1963), better known as Nacho Cano, is a Spanish arranger, composer, and record producer. He and his brother showed an interest in music in their young lives. At 5, he began to play the S ...
produced ''
Malinche'', a stage musical in Madrid. The show will be produced in Mexico with a Mexican cast.
See also
*
Felipillo
Felipillo (or Felipe) was a 16th-century Amerindian interpreter who accompanied Spanish conquistadors Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro on their various expeditions to Peru during their conquest of the Inca Empire. His real name is not kno ...
*
History of Mexico
The history of Mexico spans over three millennia, with the earliest evidence of hunter-gatherer settlement 13,000 years ago. Central and southern Mexico, known as Mesoamerica, saw the rise of complex civilizations that developed glyphic writing ...
*
Pocahontas
Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, also known as Matoaka and Rebecca Rolfe; 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. S ...
– a
Powhatan
Powhatan people () are Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands who belong to member tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy, or Tsenacommacah. They are Algonquian peoples whose historic territories were in eastern Virginia.
Their Powh ...
woman notable for her interaction as an interpreter for the English colonists of
Jamestown, Virginia
The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent British colonization of the Americas, English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James River, about southwest of present-day Willia ...
.
*
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was a pivotal event in the history of the Americas, marked by the collision of the Aztec Triple Alliance and the Spanish Empire. Taking place between 1519 and 1521, this event saw the Spanish conquistad ...
*
Women in Mexico
The status of women in Mexico has changed significantly over time. Until the twentieth century, Mexico was an overwhelmingly rural country, with rural women's status defined within the context of the family and local community. With urbanizati ...
Notes
References
Citations
Bibliography
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Further reading
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External links
"Cortés girlfriend is not forgiven". The New York Times. accessed 10 June 2019(resources)
*
ttp://chapala.com/chapala/ojo2007/defensemalinche.html in defense of MalincheMaking Herself Indispensable, Condemned for Surviving: Doña Marina (Part 1)Making Herself Indispensable, Condemned for Surviving: Doña Marina (Part 2)La Malinche, an ambivalent interpreter from the past Spanish-language article by Juan F. Maura comparing La Cava and Mexican Malinche.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malinche, La
1490s births
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1550s deaths
16th-century indigenous people of the Americas
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History of the Aztecs
Indigenous Mexicans
Interpreters
Mexican folklore
National symbols of Mexico
Native American women in warfare
Spanish Indian auxiliaries
Mexican slaves
Women in 16th-century warfare
Women in the Conquest of Mexico
16th-century slaves
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History of Tabasco
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Women slaves
Nahuatl-Spanish translators