Jerónimo de Vivar
Who was Jerónimo de Vivar?
Spanish explorer and historian
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Jerónimo de Vivar (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Jerónimo de Vivar was a Spanish historian and explorer active during the early conquest and settlement of Chile in the 1500s. He's best known for writing "Crónica y relación copiosa y verdadera de los reinos de Chile," a detailed firsthand account of Chile during the conquest. Apart from what he noted at the end of this work, we know almost nothing about his personal life, family, or career outside Chile. He mentioned being born in Burgos, Spain, a city in Castile known for its ties to military and imperial service to the Spanish Crown.
Vivar reached the Americas before arriving in Chile, though there's no official record of his journey. Historians think he came to Chile around 1549, traveling overland from Peru with Francisco de Villagra's forces. This route through northern Chile allowed him to observe the geography, people, and conditions, detailed in his "Crónica." His arrival coincided with one of the most turbulent times of Spanish expansion in South America.
In Chile, Vivar witnessed key events of the conquest. He was present during Pedro de Valdivia's expedition to establish Concepcion and at the 1550 Battle of Andalien against Mapuche warriors. He also observed or participated in sea voyages and the expedition to found Valdivia, exploring the surrounding area. For events before his arrival, he relied on other witnesses and official documents, leading some historians to guess he might be Juan de Cárdenas, Valdivia's secretary, using a pen name. However, this was ruled out after examining the activities of both men.
Vivar wrote the "Crónica," at least partly, to honor a promise made by Pedro de Valdivia in a 1552 letter to the Spanish king, pledging a detailed account of the land and its conquest. Vivar finished the manuscript in Santiago in 1558, as noted in the colophon. After that, there's no further information about him. His work was not published during his lifetime and circulated only as a handwritten document. The Chilean historian Diego de Rosales mentioned it in the next century, and a few other historians noted its existence. The manuscript disappeared from records until it was rediscovered in the mid-20th century. It was finally published in 1966 by the Fondo Histórico y Bibliográfico José Toribio Medina, making it available to scholars nearly 400 years later.
Before Fame
Almost nothing is known about Vivar's life before he arrived in Chile. He said he was from Burgos, a city in Castile, Spain, with a strong military and commercial history linked to Spain's empire. Like many Spaniards of his time, he traveled to the Indies before reaching Chile, but when he left Spain, which route he took, and what he did in the Americas before 1549 are not documented.
Vivar grew up when Spain was quickly expanding its colonies in the Americas after the conquests of Mexico and Peru. Men from modest backgrounds often looked for fortune and recognition by joining expeditions for conquest and settlement. Vivar seems to have been one of them, arriving in Chile when the area was still contested and largely unknown to Europeans. His ability to read, write, and observe details set him apart from many others and made him well-suited to keeping historical records.
Key Achievements
- Authored the Crónica y relación copiosa y verdadera de los reinos de Chile, a primary historical source on the early Spanish conquest of Chile
- Provided firsthand eyewitness accounts of key events including the Battle of Andalien in 1550 and the founding of Concepcion
- Completed a detailed geographical and ethnographic account of Chilean territory as promised to the Spanish Crown by Pedro de Valdivia
- Recorded observations of the peoples and landscapes of northern Chile based on his overland journey from Peru in 1549
- Produced a manuscript that, despite centuries of obscurity, became a foundational document for historians of colonial Chile upon its publication in 1966
Did You Know?
- 01.Vivar's Crónica was lost for roughly four centuries after its completion in 1558 and was only rediscovered and published in 1966, nearly 400 years after it was written.
- 02.Some historians once believed Vivar was a pseudonym for Juan de Cárdenas, Pedro de Valdivia's personal secretary, because of strong similarities between the Crónica and certain official documents of the conquest.
- 03.Vivar personally witnessed the Battle of Andalien in 1550, one of the early major military confrontations between Spanish forces and the Mapuche people of Chile.
- 04.The writing of the Crónica was connected to a promise Pedro de Valdivia made to the Spanish Crown in a letter dated 1552, pledging a full account of the Chilean territories.
- 05.Vivar is thought to have entered Chile via an overland route from Peru under Francisco de Villagra, which allowed him to record detailed observations of northern Chilean geography and indigenous populations.