Late Post from Week 2: Jan 13

Dona Marina was a woman who was born in 1505, and was born in what is now Mexico. When her mother had another child, Dona was sold into slavery by her family. She became a slave of a Maya chieftain in Tabasco, Mexico. in 1519, when Dona was just 14 years old, Cortes landed his troops in Mexico to defeat Tabasco. Instead, negotiations were made, and twenty women were given from the Tabasco authorities to the Spanish. Dona was one of them She came to service Cortes himself. Under his rule, Dona was Cortes' interpreter, cross-cultural broker and strategist. She was also his mistress and gave him a son. When Cortes no longer needed her, he married her off to a conquistador, Juan Jaramillo. Before Dona died, she did one last conquest for Cortes, which happened to be near her home. There, she encountered her mother and half-brothers, but instead of killing them for what they had done to her, she forgave them for what they did.
I see Dona Marina as a strong woman who did what she had to do in order to survive. Her family sold her into slavery, where she could have easily been mistreated, or worse, killed. Although the article in Ways of the World doesn't say much about Dona Marina's hard times, I'm sure she had many. She was a smart girl, which probably helped her be a helper to Cortes himself. Yes, some see Dona Marina as a traitor to her peoples, but she was just doing what she had to do in order to survive. She was sold into slavery, so she had to make the most of it by working her way to the top of the slavery pole and was treated with some respect by Cortes instead of none at all.