Jose Toribio Medina (1852–1930)

This book is a number of different works by different authors written and translated at different times. At the core is a primary source 1542 "Account" by Friar Gaspar de Carvajal about the first voyage down the Amazon River by Captain Francisco de Orellana in 1542 (Gaspar de Carvajal was a member of the voyage). Gaspar's "Account" remained unpublished and obscure until 1895 when Chilean historian José Toribio Medina published a modern Spanish translation, along with a book-length Introduction and dozens of other primary source documents about the voyage. This combined work was then translated into English in 1934, along with some additional material, which is the book being reviewed here under the full title: "The Discovery of the Amazon: According to the Account of Friar Gaspar de Carvajal and other documents. As published by Jose Toribio Medina. Translated from the Spanish by Bertram T. Lee. Edited by H.C. Heaton."

My copy is the 1934 hardcover by the American Geographic Society ("Special Publication No. 17") and is a large weighty old musty tomb that looks like it belongs on the shelf of a governmental library. The "Account" by Gaspar is amazing, this is the first primary source document of 16th C Spanish exploration I have read. It is no literary masterpiece but that adds to its authenticity. There is a considerable amount of adventure, privation, death and exotic encounters.

The "Account" was the basis for the 1973 German classic film "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" and it also contains the first mention of "Amazonian warriors", an all-female martial society (whose existence remains a mystery). It is also a fascinating look at how populated the "New World" was before European diseases wiped out %95 of the population in the 16th and 17th century - Gaspar recounts stretches of the river lasting for 100s of miles which were densely populated as far inland as could be seen. Even to this day such population levels do not exist and recent archaeological evidence seems to support this (see "1491" by Chalres C. Mann).… (más)