Jerónimo de Vivar was a Spanish historian of the early conquest and settlement of the Kingdom of Chile, and author of ''Crónica y relación copiosa y verdadera de los reinos de Chile''. Little is known about his life except that according to his own conclusion to the ''Crónica'' he was born in

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populous municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of th ...

, Spain. He had come to the Indies some time before coming to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

but no record of his passage was recorded. It is thought he arrived in Chile with the forces returning in 1549, from

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 ...

with Francisco de Villagra overland. This gave him an opportunity to make detailed observation on the places and people in northern Chile that appear in the ''Crónica''. Vivar was an eyewitness to some events, like

Pedro de Valdivia Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia or Valdiva (; April 17, 1497 – December 25, 1553) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' and the first royal governor of Chile. After having served with the Spanish army in Italy and Flanders, he was sent to South America in ...

's overland expedition to settle Concepcion and the Battle of Andalien in 1550, some of the sea voyages described, and the expedition to settle

Valdivia Valdivia (; Mapuche: Ainil) is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder, Pedro de Valdivia, and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and ...

and the exploration of the surrounding area. He often wrote based on reports of others that had witnessed the events from the time of the first settlement, including official documents. Because of similarities to these documents some historians believed he was actually Valdivia's secretary, Juan de Cárdenas writing under a pseudonym. However a study of their known movements and activities precluded that being the case. It is thought that he was working to compile a detailed account of the history of the conquest and an account of the land of Chile promised by Pedro de Valdivia to the king of Spain in a letter of 1552. This task he finished while in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, in 1558 according to his colophon in the book. Nothing more is known about him. His book remained a manuscript. It was known to the Chilean historian Diego de Rosales writing in the following century and listed by a few other compilers of historical documents at that time. It then disappeared and was only found in the middle of the Twentieth century, being first published by the Fondo Histórico y Bibliográfico José Toribio Medina in 1966.

References

''Crónica y relación copiosa y verdadera de los reinos de Chile'' (Chronicle and abundant and true relation of the kingdoms of Chile)
''Artehistoria - Rivista Digital''; Crónicas de América

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vivar, Jeronimo De 16th-century Spanish historians People of the Arauco War 16th-century Spanish explorers Explorers of Chile 16th-century Spanish male writers

See also

References