What did la malinche do

Facsimile c. Malintzin was born around the year , the eldest child of Nahua nobility. Her parents named her Malinalli, after the goddess of grass. It is not known whether she was sold by her family or kidnapped, because every historical text about her life tells the story differently. But it is certain that she was enslaved at a young age and forced to move away from her childhood home.

As an enslaved girl, Malintzin had no control over the work she was made to do. She labored in the homes of those who enslaved her, cooking, cleaning, and performing any other domestic task she was assigned. She may have been forced to perform sex work.

Was la malinche aztec

During her travels, she became fluent in both Yucatec and Nahuatl, the languages of the Mayan and Aztec people. Malintzin also spoke high Nahuatl, the language of the courts, which supports her claim to noble birth. The enslaved women were baptized by Catholic priests, and each was given the European name Marina. He needed her language skills to speak with the various Indigenous leaders he would encounter during his conquest.

It was at this time that the Aztec community began calling her Malintzin, a combination of her birth name and a Nahuatl honorific. Moctezuma, the ruler of the Aztecs, addressed all of his official correspondence with the Spanish to her. Throughout the conquest, no matter how much power she seemed to have, Malintzin was enslaved. Some view Malintzin as a woman who single-handedly brought about the doom of her people to advance her own interests.

In modern Mexican culture, her nickname, La Malinche, has become synonymous with deceit and betrayal.