Gonzalo Guerrero (also known as Gonzalo Marinero, Gonzalo de Aroca and Gonzalo de Aroza) was a sailor from Palos, in Spain who was shipwrecked along the Yucatán Peninsula and was taken as a slave by the local Maya. Earning his freedom, Guerrero became a respected warrior under a Maya lord and raised three of the first mestizo children in Mexico and one of the first mestizo children in the Americas, alongside the children of Caramuru and João Ramalho in Brazil. Little is known of his early life.
Early life
Little is known of Guerrero's early life. He is presumed to have reached the New World aboard a Spanish expedition in the late 15th or early 16th century.
Career
Shipwreck and enslavement 1511
In 1511, Guerrero and fifteen other sailors were shipwrecked on the Las Viboras shallows off the coast of Jamaica, having been driven off course by a strong tropical storm. Lacking a seaworthy vessel and provisions, the survivors fashioned a makeshift raft and drifted for thirteen days across open sea until sighting the Yucatán Peninsula, though by this point, only ten of the survivors remained alive (including Guerrero).
Guerrero and his nine surviving crew-mates were immediately apprehended by the Mayan militia of Waymil upon their landing. Some were ritually sacrificed, and the survivors were forced into slavery under various provincial aristocrats.
Transfer to Chetumal 1514
In circa 1514, Guerrero entered the service of Nachan Can, halach uinich or governor of Chetumal, while Gerónimo de Aguilar, his crew-mate, remained a slave of the batab or mayor of Xamanha. While in Chetumal, Guerrero is thought to have demonstrated superior military prowess, thereby earning military rank as nakom or commanding officer. He is thought to have served Chetumal or their allies during the 1517 Hernández de Córdoba and 1518 Juan de Grijalva entradas. Furthermore, during his time in Chetumal, Guerrero fully assimilated to Mayan culture, going so far as to convert to Mayan polytheism and to marry a Mayan woman, believed to have been the provincial governor's daughter. Guerrero and his wife's children are considered among the first mestizos in the New World, along with the children of Caramuru, in Bahia, and João Ramalho, in São Paulo, who were born between 1510 and 1520 in Brazil.
Contact with Cortés 1519
Upon Hernán Cortés' 6 March 1519 landing in Cozumel, during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, the conquistador learned of Guerrero and his crew-mate, Aguilar, and promptly invited both to join the entrada to Tenochtitlan. Guerrero, however, declined Cortés' offer, noting he was duty-bound to care after his family in Chetumal. Cortés, on hearing this, renewed his offer, granting Guerrero leave to bring his family along. Again, Guerrero declined, this time noting he was further duty-bound to the provincial governor, of whom he was a slave.
On arriving in Cozumel from Cuba in 1519, Cortés sent a letter by Maya messenger across to the mainland, inviting the two Spaniards, of whom he had heard rumours, to join him. Aguilar became a translator, along with Doña Marina, 'La Malinche', during the Conquest. According to the account of Bernal Díaz, when the newly freed friar attempted to convince Guerrero to join him, Guerrero responded:
Spanish: "Hermano Aguilar, yo soy casado y tengo tres hijos. Tienenme por cacique y capitán, cuando hay guerras, la cara tengo labrada, y horadadas las orejas. ¿Que dirán de mi esos españoles, si me ven ir de este modo? Idos vos con la bendición de Dios, que ya veis que estos mis hijitos son bonitos, y dadme por vida vuestra de esas cuentas verdes que traeis, para darles, y diré, que mis hermanos me las envían de mi tierra."
English Translation: "Brother Aguilar; I am married and have three children, and they look on me as a cacique (lord) here, and captain in time of war. My face is tattooed and my ears are pierced. What would the Spaniards say about me if they saw me like this? Go and God's blessing be with you, for you have seen how handsome these children of mine are. Please give me some of those beads you have brought to give to them and I will tell them that my brothers have sent them from my own country."
Díaz goes on to describe how Gonzalo's Mayan wife, Zazil Há, interrupted the conversation and angrily addressed Aguilar in her own language:
Spanish: "Y asimismo la india mujer del Gonzalo habló a Aguilar en su lengua, muy enojada y le dijo: Mira con qué viene este esclavo a llamar a mi marido: idos vos y no curéis de más pláticas."