Cortés Mistaken as a God

When Hernán Cortés landed in Mexico in 1519, he depended on a fragile chain of translators: Gerónimo de Aguilar for Spanish-Mayan and Malintzin (La Malinche) for Mayan-Nahuatl. At Cempoala, locals reportedly called him a "teule," which the Spaniards eagerly translated as "god." But the Nahuatl root "teotl" could mean "god," "demon," or other spiritual forces depending on context, and Nahuatl wasn't even the Totonac people's native language. The ambiguity convinced Cortés and his men that they were viewed as divine, a mistranslation that helped cement one of the most enduring myths of the Spanish conquest.

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