I mean, how did the conquistadores communicate with the native populations while they were busy taking over the continent? How did they know which groups they should cozy up to?
I tried searching the 'net and also this board, but evidently there’s either nothing there or my search skills are sadly lacking. I’m leaning towards the latter.
So, how did they communicate?
When Columbus first arrived, they relied on hand gestures and pointing to communicate, which often led to misinterpretations. Eventually, they learned the language of the locals. Once that happened, they could usually find someone who spoke the language of the next tribe over. They would then kidnap him or her to use as an interpreter.
In the case of Cortes, the Indian woman known as La Malinche played a key role as interpreter. She had learned Spanish from a priest who was also held by the same Maya group that had enslaved her.
The information in the first one of bonzer’s links refers to situations which also took place during other expeditions, such as the Great Surveys. My memory is refusing to work right now, but IIRC I’ve seen references to translator chains regarding the 40th parallel survey. Often such chains include at least one person whose knowledge of multiple languages came not from trade or schooling, but from having been a prisoner, hostage or castaway.
When no translators were available at all, the rule of thumb was pretty basic:
If they throw stuff at you: shoot at them.
If they smile at you: smile back and eventually reach an agreement to hit Those Other Guys. There’s always some Other Guys who need hitting, at least if you’re a Spaniard wearing a morrion and breastplate.
Thanks to all for your answers!
Beating up on those other guys: The universal language!
In the case of the Aztecs, it quickly became clear that all their neighbors hated them, for good reason. A key part of Cortes’s strategy was putting together a large anti-Aztec alliance of other groups. Of course, once the Aztecs were conquered it didn’t do the Spaniard’s erstwhile allies much good.
Humans have engaged in long-distance trade for many thousands of years, so bilingual interpreters may have been long in demand.
OFF-TOPIC: Lewis and Clark needed three translaters to negotiate with the Shoshone Indians: Capt. Meriwether Lewis spoke English to François Labiche (whom they’d picked up as a boatman on the Missouri River), who spoke French to Sacagawea’s husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, who spoke Hidatsa (a Siouan language) to his wife, who spoke Shoshone (an Uto-Aztecan language) to her long-missed brother (a Shoshone chieftain). Charbonneau seems to have been a worthless rascal kept around just to communicate with Sacagawea.
Their son, Jean-Baptiste, led a pretty interesting life, however, after being housed by William Clarke and sent to university by him. He was a guide in the Mexican-American War and was a gold prospector. His grave is in Malheur County, OR.
In 1511, a Spanish caravel became shipwrecked near the Yucatán Peninsula. The survivors were captured by the local Maya, and some were sacrificed.
A couple of the survivors managed to escape and were then subsequently captured by a rival Mayan tribe, who let them live with them. One of these men was a Franciscan friar, named Gerónimo de Aguilar, and he became fluent in Maya and other other indigenous languages.
When Hernán Cortés invaded Mexico in 1519, he heard about these men and sent word to them. Aguilar then joined his fellow Spaniards. Cortés also acquired a native tribute slave, named La Malinche - also known as Malinalli, Malintzin, Doña Marina or Malintze - who was taught Spanish by Aguilar.
Cortés could translate from Spanish to Mayan using Aguilar, and then from Mayan to Nahuatl, which the Aztecs spoke, using La Malinche. When La Malinche had learnt Spanish, she became Cortés’ main translator.
How did they know which ones to cozy up to? I believe it was Magellan who found that one indicator of friendliness was that when he reached the western Pacific, at one stop the women were willing to have sex with his crew… which of course ended badly. He got too close to the one local tribe. He got involved in their tribal wars, and then got himself killed making him the first person to almost circumnavigate the globe.