Gerónimo de Aguilar

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gerónimo de Aguilar (also Jerónimo de Aguilar ; *  1489 in Seville , Spain , † around 1531 ) was a Franciscan who rendered important services to Hernán Cortés as a translator and interpreter during the conquest of Mexico .

Living conditions and role in the conquest of Mexico

In 1511, Aguilar set off from Panama on board the Santa María de la Barca caravel for Santo Domingo . Due to bad weather, the ship was shipwrecked near the Yucatán peninsula . Aguilar, a Spanish sailor named Gonzalo Guerrero and other castaways survived as strong currents drove their boat to the Mexican coast ( Quintana Roo ).

Aguilar and the other survivors were captured by the Maya resident there , to be later sacrificed to the gods. However, Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerrero managed to escape and hide in the rainforest. They soon fell into the captivity of other warlike Maya and were held by them as slaves. During this eight year imprisonment, Aguilar learned the Mayan language .

When Hernán Cortés arrived on the island of Cozumel in 1519 , he heard that there were Spaniards on the mainland who were being kept as slaves by the Maya, and he obtained their release. In contrast to Gonzalo Guerrero, who had achieved prosperity and prestige among the Maya, Aguilar joined the expedition of Cortés. Since he spoke both Maya and Spanish , he served - together with Malinche , who was capable of both Maya and Nahuatl - for a long time as a translator and interpreter for Hernán Cortés during his conquests. However, when Malinche also mastered Castilian, Aguilar stepped more and more into the background. Aguilar died, probably in 1523 or 1524, in an unknown location.

literature

  • Bernal Díaz del Castillo : True Story of the Conquest of Mexico . Edited and edited by Georg Adolf Narziss, Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-458-32767-3 .
  • Hernán Cortés: The conquest of Mexico: 3 reports from Hernán Cortés to Emperor Charles V with 112 pen lithographs by Max Slevogt . Translated by Mario Spiro and CW Koppe, edited by Claus Litterscheid. Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 3rd edition 1992, ISBN 3-458-32093-8 .

Literary adaptations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernal Díaz del Castillo : True History of the Conquest of Mexico . P. 618.
personal data
SURNAME Aguilar, Gerónimo de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish Franciscan in Mexico
DATE OF BIRTH 1489
PLACE OF BIRTH Seville , Spain
DATE OF DEATH around 1531