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Bernabé Cobo (born at Lopera in Spain, 1582; died at
Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...
,
Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
, 9 October 1657) was a Spanish
Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
missionary and writer. He played a part in the early history of
quinine Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to ''Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal leg ...
by his description of cinchona bark; he brought some to Europe on a visit in 1632. He was a thorough student of nature and man in Spanish America. His long residence (61 years), his position as a priest and, several times, as a missionary, gave him unusual opportunities for obtaining reliable information. The Spanish botanist Cavanilles gave the name of '' Cobaea'' to a genus of plants belonging to the Polemoniaceae of
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
, '' Cobaea scandens'' being its most striking representative.


Life

He went to America in 1596, visiting the Antilles and
Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
and landing at Lima in 1599. Entering the Society of Jesus, 14 October 1601, he was sent by his superiors in 1615 to the mission of Juli, where, and at Potosí,
Cochabamba Cochabamba (; ) is a city and municipality in central Bolivia in a valley in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital (political), capital of the Cochabamba Department and the list of cities in Bolivia, fourth largest city in Bolivia, with ...
, Oruro, and
La Paz La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...
, he laboured until 1618. He was rector of the college of
Arequipa Arequipa (; Aymara language, Aymara and ), also known by its nicknames of ''Ciudad Blanca'' (Spanish for "White City") and ''León del Sur'' (Spanish for "South's Lion"), is a city in Peru and the capital of the eponymous Arequipa (province), ...
from 1618 until 1621, afterwards at Pisco, and finally at Callao in the same capacity, as late as 1630. He was then sent to Mexico, and remained there until 1650, when he returned to Peru.


Works

He wrote two works, one of which is incomplete. It is also stated that he wrote a work on botany in ten volumes, which, it seems, is lost. Of his main work, to which biographers give the title ''Historia general de las Indias'', and which he finished in 1653, only the first half is known and has appeared in print (four volumes, at Seville, 1890 and years succeeding). The remainder, in which he treats, or claims to have treated, of every geographical and political subdivision in detail, was either never finished, or is lost. His other book appeared in print in 1882, and forms part of the ''History of the Inca Empire'' mentioned, but he made a separate manuscript of it in 1639, and so it became published as ''Historia de la fundación de Lima'',Bernabé Cobo (1882) ''Historia de la fundación de Lima''
Imprenta liberal, Lima, Peru (Google eBook) (Spanish) a few years before the publication of the principal manuscripts. The ''History of the Inca Empire'' may, in American literature, be compared with one work only, the ''General and Natural history of the Indies'' by
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 ...
. On the animals and plants of the continent, it is more complete than Nieremberg, Hernandez, and Monardes. In regard to the pre-Columbian past and vestiges, Cobo is, for the South American west coast, a source of primary importance, for close observations of customs and manners, and generally accurate descriptions of the principal ruins of South America.


References

*Torres Saldamando, ''Antiguos Jesuitas del Peru'' (Lima, 1882); *Cabanilles, ''Discures sobre algunos botanicos españoles del siglo XVII'' in the Anales de historia natural (Madrid, 1804).


Notes

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cobo, Bernabe 1582 births 1657 deaths 17th-century Spanish Jesuits Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in Peru Jesuit missionaries in New Spain