José de Acosta
José de Acosta, SJ (1539 or 1540
Life
José de Acosta was born at
Panama
At age 32, Acosta left Spain with several other Jesuits in 1570, landing at
Peru and Acosta's disease
On his arrival at Lima, he was ordered to cross the
Acosta had arrived in Peru two years after
The principal seat of the Jesuits was at that time in the little town of Juli, near the western shores of Lake Titicaca. Here a college was formed, the languages of the natives were studied, and eventually, a printing press was established. Acosta probably resided at Juli during much of his stay in Peru. It was here, in all likelihood, that he observed the famous comet of 1577, from November 1 to December 8, which extended like a fiery plume from the horizon nearly to the zenith. Here, too, he devoted much of his time to the preparation of several learned works, which he later took back to Spain in manuscript, including the first two books of the Natural History of the Indies. At Juli, Father Acosta received information respecting the Amazon River from a brother who had formerly been in the famous piratical cruise of Lope de Aguirre.[9]
Towards the close of the viceroyalty of Toledo, Father Acosta appears to have moved from the interior of Peru to Lima. Here he mentions superintending the casting of a great bell, for which there was difficulty in getting fuel for the furnace, making it necessary to fell great trees in the
In 1571 José went to Cuzco as a visitor of the recently founded college of the Jesuits. He returned to Lima three years later to again fill the chair of theology, and was elected provincial in 1576.
In 1579 Sir Francis Drake was on the coast, and the Viceroy dispatched a fleet under Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, partly to chase the English pirate, and partly to explore and survey the Strait of Magellan. Acosta had conversations with the pilot of Sarmiento's fleet, and was allowed to inspect his chart, thus obtaining much hydrographic information, and particulars respecting the tides in the straits. He also conversed with the new Viceroy Don Martín Henríquez on the same subject.[10]
Acosta founded a number of colleges, among them those of Arequipa, Potosí, Chuquisaca, Panama and La Paz, but met with considerable opposition from the Viceroy Toledo. His official duties obliged him to investigate personally a very extensive range of territory, so that he acquired a practical knowledge of the vast province, and of its aboriginal inhabitants. At the 1582 session of the Third Council of Lima, Father Acosta played a very important part and was its historian. He delivered an eloquent and learned oration at its last sitting on October 18, 1583.
Mexico
Shortly after the Third Council of Lima, he embarked with all his manuscripts, the literary labors of fifteen years, and commenced his voyage to Mexico. During the passage, he was a shrewd observer of nature and knowledge seeker. He learned from an expert Portuguese pilot that there were four often-visited ports[
Return to Spain
Acosta had been called to Spain by the King in 1585, prior to being detained in Mexico, in order to debate against Alonzo Sánchez's plans to initiate an invasion of China. He sailed home to Spain in the fleet of 1587, which contained a precious cargo, including twelve chests of gold each weighing 100 lb (45 kg), 11,000,000 pieces of silver, and two chests of emeralds each weighing 100 lb, in addition to loads of ginger, sarsaparilla, Brazil wood and animal hides.[13] In Spain he filled the chair of theology at the Roman college in 1594, head of the Jesuits College at Valladolid, as well as other important positions. At the time of his death in his 60th year, he was rector of the college at Salamanca.
Works
Aside from his publication of the proceedings of the provincial councils of 1567 and 1583, and several works of exclusively theological import, Acosta is best known as the writer of De Natura Novi Orbis, De promulgatione Evangelii apud Barbaros, sive De Procuranda Indorum salute and above all, the Historia natural y moral de las Indias. The first two appeared at Salamanca in 1588, the last at
See also
- Viceroyalty of Peru
- List of Jesuit scientists
- List of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics
References
- ^ D.A. Brading, The First America: The Spanish Monarchy, Creole Patriots, and the Liberal State, 1492-1867. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1991, p. 184 give 1540 as his date of birth.
- ^ Brading, The First America, pp. 184, 186.
- ^ Joseph de Acosta, Edward Grimston, Clements Robert Markham, The Natural and Moral Historie of the Indies, Hakluyt Society, 1880 pp. i–ii
- ^ Brading, The First America, p. 184.
- ^ ibid., de Acosta, p.ii
- ISBN 978-0-7817-7466-6. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
- ISBN 978-1-58391-328-4. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
- ^ op. cit., de Acosta, p.iv
- ^ op. cit., de Acosta, p.iv-v
- ^ op. cit., de Acosta, p.vi
- ^ op. cit., de Acosta, p.viii-ix
- ^ Huerta, Blas Roman Castellon. "Acosta, Joseph De." In Davíd Carrasco (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. : Oxford University Press, 2001.
- ^ op. cit., de Acosta, p.ix
- ^ Caraccioli, M. J. (2017). "THE LEARNED MAN OF GOOD JUDGMENT: NATURE, NARRATIVE AND WONDER IN JOSE DE ACOSTA'S NATURAL PHILOSOPHY". www.ingentaconnect.com. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
- ISBN 978-1-4000-3205-1
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "José de Acosta". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- Adovasio, J. M. and David Pedler. "The Peopling of North America." North American Archaeology. Blackwell Publishing, 2005. p. 32.
- Kish, George (1970). "Acosta, José de". ISBN 978-0-684-10114-9.
- Jose de Acosta, S.J. (1540-1600) Pioneer of the Geophysical Sciences @Fairfield University
Bibliography
- Acosta, José de (2002). The Natural and Moral History of the Indies. Edited by Jane Mangan; translated by ISBN 978-0-8223-2845-2
- BEROSE - International Encyclopaedia of the Histories of Anthropology. "Acosta, José de (1540-1600)", Paris, 2019. (ISSN 2648-2770)
- Burgaleta, Claudio M. (1999). José de Acosta (1540–1600): His Life and Thought. Chicago: Loyola University Press. ISBN 978-0-8294-1063-1.
- MacCormack, Sabine (1991). Religion in the Andes: Vision and Imagination in Early Colonial Peru. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-09468-7.
- ISBN 978-0-521-33704-5.
- Pagden, Anthony (1993). European Encounters with the New World: From Renaissance to Romanticism. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-05285-5.
- Pino Díaz, Fermín del (2019). “Contribución del Padre José de Acosta a la constitución de la etnología: su evolucionismo”, in BEROSE - International Encyclopaedia of the Histories of Anthropology, Paris.
- Pino Díaz, Fermín del (2019). “Vida y obra de José de Acosta, misionero jesuita y cronista indiano”, in BEROSE - International Encyclopaedia of the Histories of Anthropology, Paris.
Further reading
- Ando, Clifford; McGinness, Anne; and MacCormack, Sabine G. (2015). “Natural Philosophy, History, and Theology in the Writings of José de Acosta, S.J. (1540–1600).” In Journal of Jesuit Studies 2(1): 1–35. doi.org/10.1163/22141332-00201001.
External links
- Histoire naturelle et morale des Indes. Translated by Robert Regnauld. 1617.
- The naturall and morall historie of the East and West Indies. Translated by Edward Grimeston. 1604.
- Historia natural y moral de las Indias. 1608.