Juan de Castellanos (March 9, 1522 – November 1606)Juan de Castellanos
- Boyacá Cultural was a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

poet, soldier and Catholic priest who lived in the

New Kingdom of Granada New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

. As one of the early Spanish

chronicler A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, ...

s he has contributed to the knowledge of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, mainly the

Muisca The Muisca (also called the Chibcha) are indigenous peoples in Colombia and were a Pre-Columbian culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The Muisca spe ...

Biography

De Castellanos was born in

Alanís Alanís is a municipality in Seville. In 2005 it had a population of 1,937. It has an area of 280 square kilometers and a population density of 6.9 people per square kilometer. It is located at an altitude of 660 meters and is 106 kilometers from ...

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. He travelled to

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

before 1545 as a

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...

soldier, and acquired some property on

Cubagua Cubagua Island or Isla de Cubagua () is the smallest and least populated of the three islands constituting the Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta, after Margarita Island and Coche Island. It is located north of the Araya Peninsula, the closest ...

island in the Pearl Coast. Abandoning the military profession, he became a secular priest in Cartagena and, declining the positions of

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

and treasurer, went as

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...

Tunja Tunja () is a municipality and city on the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, in the region known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 130 km northeast of Bogotá. In 2018 the municipality had a population of 172,548. It is the capital of B ...

. De Castellanos was among the earliest

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

es and was acquainted with nearly every prominent leader of the time. He relies to some extent upon

Oviedo Oviedo () or Uviéu (Asturian language, Asturian: ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains th ...

for many details, stating that Oviedo communicated to him verbally what he knew by personal experience of the settlement at Cartagena. De Castellanos died in

, Boyacá,

in 1606.

Works

While in Tunja, de Castellanos composed an epic poem, ''

Elegías de varones ilustres de Indias ''Elegías de varones ilustres de Indias'' () is an epic poem written in the late sixteenth century by Juan de Castellanos. Description The work gives a detailed account of the colonization of the Caribbean and the territories in present-day ...

''. The first part of this poem appeared in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

in 1588, and the first three parts in 1837. It is the longest poem ever in the Spanish language: 113,609 verses. The Lenox Branch of the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

possesses a complete copy. The verse recounts successively the deeds of prominent Spaniards in America, beginning with

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...

, and includes many ethnographic and ethnological details on the colonial history of northern South America. Castellanos' poem is the second of a series of epic compositions in Spanish treating of the early colonization of America, Ercilla's ''

La Araucana ''La Araucana'' (also known in English as ''The Araucaniad'') is a 16th-century epic poem in Spanish by Alonso de Ercilla, about the Spanish Conquest of Chile. It was considered the national epic of the Captaincy General of Chile and one of the ...

'' being the earliest in date of publication.

Trivia

* A university in Tunja, the ''Fundación Universitaria Juan de Castellanos'', is named in honour of Juan de Castellanos.Website Fundación universitaria Juan de Castellanos
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castellanos, Juan de 16th-century Spanish poets Spanish male poets Scholars of the Muisca civilization 1522 births 1606 deaths Epic poets 16th-century Spanish male writers

Biography

Works

Trivia

See also

References