Hernan Cortes And Malinche In The Conquest Of The Aztec Empire
In my brother’s sixth-grade social studies class, they are also learning about Europeans and Native Americans. He saw that I was looking at a picture of Cortes, Montezuma, and Malinche. Hernan Cortes in case you don’t know is a Spanish conquistador and explorer who defeated the Aztecs and claimed Mexico for Spain. Montezuma was the ruler for the Aztecs and Malintzin was just a native. He then tells me his teacher told him that Malinche was a traitor for helping Cortes.
In 1521, Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, which allowed Spain to emerge as the most preeminent empire. In Cortes’ letter, he writes “In this fight, I did them a good deal with about half a dozen cannon, and five or six muskets… without our receiving any hurt from them… amongst such a multitude of people... With so many kinds of offensive arms, we came out unhurt.” This is basically saying the Spanish were much stronger than the Aztecs that they didn’t get hurt. I had to explain why his teacher was wrong. So I said, in the image we can see the Spanish have an army, with weapons, and horses, ready to fight, while the Aztecs look defenseless.
We can also see someone in the middle, Malinche, who is looking to make peace between them. Malinche was warning her tribe that the Spanish were going to attack. Malinche had to choose a side in the end, to risk losing everything with being with the Aztecs or being with Cortes and the Spanish. I believe she wanted to do what was best for both sides. The Aztecs responded to the Spanish when they were trying to convert them to catholicism. “The gods are happy in their prosperity, in what they have, always and forever.” This shows that the Aztecs and the Spanish have their belliefs in common. Another thing they have in common is that they wanted to make peace and not fight. “The more diligent I was and trying to keep the peace… the more diligent they were in committing hostility to us.” Cortes states he tried to make peace, the Aztecs were being more hostile.
As a result. I can see why Malinche is seen as a traitor, but Malinche should be seen as a mediator/peacemaker because she tried to warn her people of the Spaniard's plans, although they were not strong enough. In the end, the Aztecs were put in more danger for not following the Spanish’s request. She was basically in the middle and had to choose. She just wanted to protect her people but also be an alliance with Hernan.
