Francisco Bravo was a medical author, the author of the first medical book published in

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

as far as is known. His ''Opera Medicinalia etc. (Authore Francisco Brauo Orsunensi doctore Mexicano medico)'' was published at Mexico, 1570. Three years before, had published his ''Secretos de Chirurgia,'' at Valladolid, Spain, and while the latter work is invaluable for the knowledge of Indian medicinal practices, and is the earliest book on these topics known to have been published, the work of Bravo has the merit of being the first medical treatise printed in America. The first regular physician who came to Mexico appears to have been an Olivarez, although surgeon-barbers and other "healers and curers" are mentioned as having already practiced with

Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (; ; 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of w ...

. Strict medical regulations were established by the municipal council of the city of Mexico in 1527, and extended to the apothecaries in 1529. Although the faculty of medicine at the

University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

was not founded until 1578, two "Doctors in Medicine" were received at that institution as early as 1553. Benavides was a native of Toro, Spain and came to

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about the year 1550. Thence he went to Mexico and returned to Spain, after having directed for eight years the hospital "del Amor de Dios" in the city of Mexico. Of Bravo it is only known that he was a native of

Osuna Osuna () is a town and municipality in the province of Seville, southern Spain, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. , it has a population of c. 17,800. It is the location of the Andalusian Social Economy School. Among famous people associ ...

, and began to practice at Sevilla in 1553. He came to Mexico between that year and 1570. The date and place of his death are not known.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bravo, Francisco 16th-century Mexican physicians Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown