- Pedro Lozano
Father Pedro Lozano (1697-1752) was a Spanish ethnographer, historian and
Jesuit Missionary.Life
He was born in
Madrid and arrived in the Americas at an early age, in 1714, bound for theJesuit Reductions ofParaguay . He studied at the Collegium Maximum in Córdoba, where he became a lecturer inphilosophy andtheology . He also taught at the college in Santa Fe between 1724 and 1730, eventually returning to Córdoba as historian of the Jesuit province of Paraguay.He produced various geographical and historical works, the most notable being "Descripción chorographica [...] del Gran Chaco". This work has a detailed map by Father
Antonio Machoni , and contains numerous ethnographic details of the peoples of theGran Chaco , as well as descriptions of the rivers, a study of the types of soil, numerous observations on the flora of the region, and in particular the medicinal plants, and interesting observations on the fauna. It is a curious fact that Lozano entertained a remarkable opinion ofyerba mate : in "Historia de la Conquista del Paraguay" he writes that it "is the most fitting method to destroy the human type or most wretched nation of theGuarani Indians " .He died in
Humahuaca (in present-dayArgentina ), and his remains were interred at the church of San Antonio de Padua in the small town ofUquia .Works
* Descripción chorographica de Terreno Ríos, Arboles, y Animales de los dilatadísimas provincias del Gran Chaco, Gualamba, y de los Ritos y Costumbres de la inumerables naciones de barbaros e infideles que le habitan. Con un cabal Relación Histórica de lo que en ellos han obrado para conquistarlas algunos Gobernadores y Ministros Reales, y los Misioneros Jesuitas para reducirlos a la fe del Verdadero Dios. Córdoba: Joseph Santos Balbas, 1733.
* "Historia de la Compañía de la Jesús de la Provincia del Paraguay". Madrid, 1755.
* "Historia de la Conquista del Paraguay, Río de la Plata y Tucumán". Reprinted Buenos Aires: Imprenta Popular, 1873-75
* "Historia de las Revoluciones de la Provincia del Paraguay 1721-1735" Facsimile reprint. Buenos Aires: Cabaut y Cía, 1905.External links
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