Figure 4.

The Native American woman known as “Malinche” or Malintzin (her Nahuatl name) was the interpreter and mistress of the Spanish Conquistador, Hernán Cortés. In 1523, she gave him a son, Martín, who is one of the first recorded individuals of mixed Native–European ancestry born in the Americas. Such offspring between immigrant men and Native women were a common occurrence in early colonial Latin America. The drawing shown is from the late 16th century “Codex Tlaxcala” and represents a meeting between the Mexican ruler, Moctezuma, and Hernán Cortés, with Malintzin (on the right) translating.