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Full Description
A group of shipwrecked Spaniards washed onto the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in 1512, leading to first contact between the Spanish and the Maya. Two men survived the ordeal: Jerónimo de Aguilar, who became a translator for Hernán Cortés in his conquest of the Aztecs, and Gonzalo Guerrero, who, as legend has it, embraced the Mayan way of life and skillfully led the opposition to the Spanish take-over of the Yucatán. Reviled in 16th-century Spain as an apostate and a traitor, Guerrero is today remembered all over the Yucatán with statues and images, and as the symbolic father of millions of Mexican mestizos. But like Robin Hood and King Arthur, Guerrero's story has become embellished by legend and myth. The product of fifteen years of research by a Governor General's Award winner, A Hero for the Americas is the first comprehensive investigation of this controversial figure.
Contents
Maps
Map 1. Spain
Map 2. The Caribbean
Map 3. The Yucatán Peninsula
Introduction
"A Haunting, Tantalizing Tale"
Chapter One
"No White Man Ever Enters It": The Yucatán Peninsula
Chapter Two
"To Serve God and...to Get Rich": The Lure of the New World
Chapter Three
"It Seemed the End of the World": Balboa, Pizarro, and the Perils of Darién
Chapter Four
"It Will Never Do to Leave Him Here": Shipwreck, Enslavement, and Hernán Cortés
Chapter Five
"What Would the Spanish Say Should They See Me in This Guise?": Gonzalo Among the Maya
Chapter Six
"Language Is the Perfect Instrument of Empire": Aguilar and the Conquest of the Aztecs
Chapter Six
"Gonzalo, My Brother and Special Friend": Guerrero the Warrior and the Battle for Yucatán
Chapter Seven
"The Power of Narrative Is Absolute": Guerrero in the Contemporary Mexican Consciousness
Chapter Eight
"We Are a Métis Civilization"
Acknowledgements
Notes
Bibliography
Index
