José Fernando Ramírez (5 May 1804 – 4 March 1871) was a distinguished

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

historian in the 19th century. He was a mentor of

Alfredo Chavero Alfredo Chavero (1841–1906) was a Mexican archaeologist, politician, poet, and dramatist. According to Howard F. Cline, "Chavero's most enduring claim to remembrance rests...on iscompletion and extension of Ramírez's plans to republish maj ...

, who considered him "the foremost of our historians." Ramírez was born in

Parral, Chihuahua Hidalgo del Parral is a city and seat of the municipality of Hidalgo del Parral in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It is located in the southern part of the state, from the state capital, the city of Chihuahua, Chihuahua. As of 2015, the city ...

but grew up in

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

, where he became a prominent liberal politician. After graduating with a degree in law from San Luis Gonzaga he was elected several times to the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

and the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. He chaired the Ministry of Foreign affairs under three different administrations and became a minister in the Supreme Court of Justice. Ramírez specialized in

prehispanic In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

and sixteenth-century Mexican history and excelled as a biographer. During the

Second Mexican Empire The Second Mexican Empire (), officially the Mexican Empire (), was a constitutional monarchy established in Mexico by Mexican monarchists in conjunction with the Second French Empire. The period is sometimes referred to as the Second French i ...

, he headed the Imperial Academy of Sciences and Literature during the

, directed the National Museum (1852) and built an impressive collection of historical documents. Among his works are one on

Toribio de Benavente Motolinia Toribio of Benavente, O.F.M. (1482, Benavente, Spain – 1565, Mexico City, New Spain), also known as Motolinía, was a Franciscan missionary who was one of the famous Twelve Apostles of Mexico who arrived in New Spain in May 1524. His publish ...

and several translations of

Aztec codices Aztec codices ( nah, Mēxihcatl āmoxtli , sing. ''codex'') are Mesoamerican manuscripts made by the pre-Columbian Aztec, and their Nahuatl-speaking descendants during the colonial period in Mexico. History Before the start of the Sp ...

such as ''

Mapa Quinatzin The Mapa Quinatzin is a 16th-century Nahua pictorial document, consisting of three sheets of amatl paper that depict the history of Acolhuacan. See also *Aztec codices *Codex Xolotl References * External links High Definition scans of the code ...

'' and ''

Codex Aubin The Aubin Codex is an 81-leaf Aztec codex written in alphabetic Nahuatl on paper from Europe. Its textual and pictorial contents represent the history of the Aztec peoples who fled Aztlán, lived during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire ...

''. He was elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...

in 1862. A bibliography of his writings on Mesoamerican ethnohistory appears in the ''

Handbook of Middle American Indians ''Handbook of Middle American Indians'' (HMAI) is a sixteen-volume compendium on Mesoamerica, from the prehispanic to late twentieth century. Volumes on particular topics were published from the 1960s and 1970s under the general editorship of Robe ...

''."Appendix B, Ramírez, selected writing of ethnohistorical interest. ''

, Guide to Ethnohistorical Sources'', Part 2. pp. 404-406. University of Texas Press 1983. After the fall of the Empire and execution of Emperor Maximilian, he left for Europe, likely because of his official roles in the French intervention. His achievements as a scholar of Mexican history are untarnished by his political role. He died in

Bonn, Germany The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

on 4 March 1871.

References

External links

Academia Mexicana de la Lengua: José Fernando Ramírez
(in Spanish).
José Fernando Ramírez: su último exilio europeo y la suerte de su última biblioteca
(in Spanish). 19th-century Mexican historians 1804 births 1871 deaths People from Parral, Chihuahua 19th-century Mesoamericanists Historians of Mesoamerica Mexican Mesoamericanists Members of the American Antiquarian Society {{Mexico-historian-stub