''Fray'' Pedro Simón ( San Lorenzo de la Parrilla,

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 ...

, 1574 - Ubaté, New Kingdom of Granada, ca. 1628) was a Spanish

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

, professor and chronicler of the indigenous peoples of modern-day Colombia 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 ...

, at the time forming the New Kingdom of Granada. Pedro Simón is one of the most important Muisca scholars whose writings were the basis for later scholars such as Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita,

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...

, and twenty first-century scholar Javier Ocampo López.

Biography

Pedro Simón studied in Cartagena, Spain and went to Cartagena de Indias in 1603.Biography Pedro Simón
- Biografías y Vidas Simón accompanied Juan de Borja and described his war against the Pijao in 1608.Biography Pedro Simón
- Cervantes Institute On 3 June 1623, he was named ''Custodio de la Provincia Franciscana del Nuevo Reino de Granada'' ("custodian of the franciscan province of the New Kingdom of Granada").Biography Pedro Simón
- Pueblos Originarios In this year he began writing his most notable work ''Noticias historiales de las conquistas de Tierra Firme en las Indias Occidentales'', of which the initial section was published in Cuenca, Spain in 1627. The full text appeared for the first time in five volumes in post-independence

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

in 1882–1892. Later editions are dated 1953, 1963 and 1982. In the nineteenth century, one part was published in English translation under the title ''The Expedition of Pedro de Ursua and Lope de Aguirre'' (London, 1861).2010 reprint
The Expedition of Pedro de Ursua and Lope de Aguirre in Search of El Dorado and Omagua in 1560–1 - Translated from Fray Pedro Simon's Sixth Historical Notice of the Conquest of Tierra Firme by William Bollaert
/ref> After finishing this work, Simón settled in the San Diego

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

in Ubaté, Cundinamarca, where he died sometime between October 1626 and May 7, 1628.

Biography

See also

References

Further reading