Adolph Francis Alphonse Bandelier

“ Alvarado, Alonzo de, a Knight of Santiago, b. at Secadura de Trasmura, near Burgos, date unknown; d. 1559. He came to America, and went to Peru with Pedro de Alvarado in 1534. He was no relative of the latter, however. While charged by some contemporaries with avarice and cruelty, it is undeniable that during the trying period of civil wars in Peru (about 1537 to 1555) Alvarado was an unflinching and determined adherent to the interests of Spain. He always sided with those whom he thought to be sincere representatives of the crown, and it was not always profitable and safe to be on that side. ”

“ But the work for which he is especially noted is his "History of the Society of Jesus in New Spain" (ed. Bustamente, Mexico, 1841) . Although composed at a time when the order was persecuted in Spanish colonies, and often with great rigor, the tone of this most valuable work, indispensable for the study of the colonial history of Mexico and of many of its Indian tribes, is dignified and free from attacks upon Spain and the Spaniards. ”

“ The appointment in 1514 of Pedrarias Dávila (see Arias de Avila) as governor of the regions discovered and partly occupied by Balboa, and his appearance on the coast of Darien with a large armament, at once gave rise to trouble. Arias was an aged man of mediocre attainments, jealous, deceitful, and vindictive. Balboa was generous, careless, and over-confident in the merits of his achievements, and was no match for the intrigues that forthwith began against him. To mask his sinister designs Arias gave one of his daughters to Balboa in marriage. ”

“ Alzate, José Antonio, b. at Ozumba, Mexico, in 1738; d. in 1799. Alzate, who was a priest, was one of the most zealous students of liberal sciences in New Spain in the seventeenth century. More than thirty treatises on various subjects are due to his pen. Astronomy, physics, meteorology, antiquities, metallurgy, were among the topics on which he wrote, but he also devoted serious attention to certain branches of industry. ”

“ At the provincial council of 1582, at Lima, Acosta played a very important part. Called to Spain by the King in 1585, he was detained in Mexico, where he dedicated himself to studies of the country and people. Returning to Europe, he filled the chair of theology at the Roman college in 1594, as well as other important positions. ”

“ From Darien he undertook, with a few followers, the hazardous journey across the Isthmus that led to the discovery of the Pacific Ocean, 25 September, 1513, and established beyond all doubt the continental nature of America. ”

“ Historia de México, by Antonio de Solis and others, like the Indian writers, Tezozomoc and Ixtlilxochitl, Diego Duran, and Juan de Tobar, also Torquemada, Monarchía Indiana; Veytia, Historia antigua de México. Modern writers on the conquest of Mexico are so numerous that it is not possible to enumerate them. ”

“ After 1836 he dedicated himself to literary and historical work until 1851, when Santa Ana recalled him to the post of Secretary of State. His two monumental works are: "Disertaciones sobre la Historia de la Republica mexicana" (Mexico, 1844) , and "Historia de México, desde los primeros movimientos que prepararon su independencia en el año de 1808, hasta la época presente" (Ibid., 1849) . With the exception of the (now antiquated) conceptions of the primitive condition of the Mexican Indians, these works are of standard value. ”

“ More pleasant in intercourse, careless and weak in many respects, his whole career in South America was that of an auxiliary who bethought himself of his own interests when it was too late. His conduct on the expedition to Chile showed no great talent as a leader, nor any of the traits of a chivalrous nature with which he is usually credited.—Diego, the Younger A natural son of the preceding and of an Indian woman from Panama. ”

“ Seven years later he explored western Colombia from Antioquia to Ancerma studying its topography, its natural history and the traces of its aboriginal inhabitants. In 1845 he went to Spain to examine such documentary material concerning Colombia and its colonial history as was then accessible, and three years later he published his "Compendio", a work on the discovery and colonization of New Granada (Colombia) . ”

“ In 1641 the Abipones had already obtained the horse from the Spanish settlers. At that time they were, according to tradition, still north of the Rio Bermejo, whence it is likely they were driven south by the Tobas, a warlike tribe of their own linguistic stock. Their horses, thriving on the grassy plains, soon made the Abipones very dangerous to Spanish colonization by means of raids on the settlements, by which they increased their own stocks of horses and cattle. ”

“ He became a novice in the Society of Jesus at the age of thirteen at the place of his birth. Four of his brothers successively joined the same order. Before leaving Spain, he was lecturer in theology at Ocana, and in April, 1569, was sent to Lima, Peru, where the Jesuits had been established in the proceeding year. At Lima, Acosta again occupied the chair of theology. ”

“ As far as the work of the Church among the Indians is concerned, the "De procurandâ Indorum salute" is perhaps more valuable than the "Historia," because it shows the standpoint from which efforts at civilizing the aborigines should be undertaken. ”

“ Their customs appear to have been the same of those of South American tribes in general; clanship, an elaborate animism, or fetishism, complete sway of the medicine-men over private and tribal matters; chiefs eligible, or imposed through the impression created by casual achievements combined with wiles of the Shamans. ”

“ He wrote "Historia de la provincia Peruana de la Compañía de Jesús", the twelfth book only of which was published, in 1891, by Manuel Vicente Ballivian, with a sliort biographical notice from the pen of Torres Saldamando. ”

“ Hispana Nova (Madrid, 1783) ; Béristain, Biblioteca hispano-americana (Mexico, 1816) ; Ycazbalceta, Bibliografia mexicana del Siglo XVI (Mexico, 1886) ; Ludewig, Literature of American Aboriginal Languages (London, 1858) . ”