A Spaniard who was shipwrecked on the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in 1511, Geronimo de Aguilar
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Learned the Mayan language, making him a crucial interpreter for Hernan CoRTES when the latter rescued him in 1519.
Not much is known of Aguilar’s early years, although it is clear that he came to the New World with one of the first waves of CONQUiSTADORes. He was not a ranking officer and hardly seemed destined for glory, although a series of accidents led him to play a prominent role in the conquest of the AzTECS.
During an early expedition to explore the Yucatan, which most Spaniards at the time considered to be another Caribbean island, his ship foundered, though many of the crew made it safely to shore. There they met with hostile Maya, who captured them and sacrificed all but two men. Aguilar was sold as a slave, while the other, GONZALO GUERRERO, married a local woman and rose to become a prominent local war chief. In fact, Guerrero began to organize active resistance to Spanish incursion into the Maya area. While living among the Maya, Aguilar learned to speak Yucatec Mayan fluently, although he maintained his faith and European culture.
Subsequent explorers heard rumors of “white men” living somewhere in the Yucatan, although Cortes was the first to investigate these stories when he arrived at Cozumel Island in 1519. With persistence, Cortes was able to find Aguilar and to secure his freedom. Eyewitnesses reported that when Aguilar saw his countrymen he fell down weeping and praising God. His report that Guerrero had “gone native” deeply disturbed his compatriots, who could not believe that a man would willingly abandon his European culture to live among “inferior” heathens. Many conquistadores distrusted Aguilar, for he had lived long among the “Devil worshippers” and even learned their language. Many fully expected him to betray them as Guerrero had.
Yet in short order Aguilar took on a key role in the conquest. In TABASCO Cortes acquired the slave woman MALiNCHE, who spoke the Aztec language of Nahuatl as well as her native Mayan. She translated the Aztecs’ messages to Aguilar, who translated them from Mayan into Spanish. Through this system Cortes was able to communicate with the Aztecs as well as their disgruntled neighbors and enemies. Cortes used this intelligence to good effect, learning much about his enemies while keeping his own motives and plans secret.
Aguilar maintained his position of importance for only a short while. The shrewd Malinche quickly learned Spanish herself and became Cortes’s mistress, making Aguilar’s skills as an interpreter redundant. He continued to play an active role in the conquest of MEXICO but did not particularly distinguish himself in the fighting. In 1526, five years after the fall of the Aztecs, Cortes rewarded Aguilar with a small group of encomiendas, specifically in Molango, Malia, and Sochicoatlan. He died in 1531 without an heir, and his encomiendas reverted to the Crown.
Further reading: Inga Clendinnen, Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan, 1517-1570 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987); Peter Gerhard, A Guide to the Historical Geography of New Spain (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993).
—Scott Chamberlain
World History
