Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, edited by James
Grant Wilson, John Fiske and Stanley L. Klos. Six volumes, New York: D. Appleton
and Company, 1887-1889 and 1999. Virtualology.com warns that these 19th Century
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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Cristobal De Acuña (ah-koon'-ya)
Cristóbal de Acuña ( Burgos , 1597 - Lima , 1675 ) was a
Spanish Jesuit missionary and chronicler , author of a famous story about the
exploration of the Amazon River .
He entered the Society of Jesus in March 1613. In 1622 he was
sent to Paraguay where he arrived with 22 other missionaries. Since 1625 he is
found in Chile misionando between Mapuches and in Peru where he founded the
school of Cuenca . She made her final vows in 1634 in Santiago de Chile.
In 1639 he was part of the expedition of Pedro Teixeira , who
explored a second time the Amazon basin with the aim of mapping the territory
and assess their wealth. The trip lasted from February 16 until December 12 when
they reached Pará . Back in Spain, Acuña to King Philip IV his work New
Discovery of the Great River of the Amazons one in which advises the conquest
and evangelization of the area. His meticulous chronicle of the expedition, one
of the most important and comprehensive on the Amazon, was published in Madrid
in 1641 and was subsequently translated into French (1682) and English (1698,
translated from the French and Spanish from the original ). The French edition
was the first to include maps based on the descriptions of Acuña.
Acuña visited Rome as procurator of the Jesuits and later,
back in Spain, was named qualifier Inquisition . Finally, he returned to the
West Indies and settled in Lima, where he died.