ACUÑA, Cristobal de (ah-koon'-ya), Spanish Jesuit missionary, born in Burgos, Spain, in 1597; died about 1676. He was attached to Texeira's Amazon expedition in 1639-'41, with the special object of reporting the incidents of the exploration. On his return to Spain he published his " Nuevo Descubrimiento del Gran Rio de las Amazons." All the copies of this work, except two, were unfortunately destroyed, but from these Gomberville into French made a translation in 1684.

Although great interest was excited by the expedition, the distractions in the mother country prevented the government from taking any marked interest in the colonization of the region to which so much energy and talent had been devoted. Acuña afterward went to the West Indies, thence returned to South America, and died while on his way from Panama to Lima.

Edited Appletons Encyclopedia by John Looby, Copyright © 2001 Virtualology^TM

ACUNA, Cristobal de (ah-koon'-ya), Spanish Jesuit missionary, born in Burg.s, Spain, in 1597; died about 1676. He was attached to Texeira's Amazon expedition in 1639-'41, with the special object of reporting the incidents of the exploration. On his return to Spain he published his " Nuevo Descubrimiento del Gran Rio de las Areazons." All the copies of this work, except two, were unfortunately destroyed, but from these Gomberville into French made a translation in 1684. Although great interest was excited by the expedition, the distractions in the mother country prevented the government from taking any marked interest in the colonization of the region to which so much energy and talent had been devoted. Acuna afterward went to the West Indies, thence returned to South America, and died while on his way from Panama to Lima.