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Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, Gonzalo

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Person Born Died Gender Person ID
Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés Madrid 1478 Valladold 1557 M P0889

Instrument(s) Professional group Social status Social sphere Why is the person listed?
vihuela harp rabel arpa Author Nobility Court - noble Author Author - poet, playwright

Years active Place active Century Region
16cent/2/mid Castilla
Biographical information

Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés (August 1478 – 1557) was a Spanish historian and writer. He is commonly known as "Oviedo" even though his family name is Fernández. He participated in the Spanish colonization of the Caribbean, and wrote a long chronicle of this project which is one of the few primary sources about it. For three centuries, only a small portion of it was published, but this abridgement was widely read in the 16th century in Spanish, English, and French editions.
He was born in Madrid of a noble Asturian lineage and educated in the court of Ferdinand and Isabella. At thirteen, he became page to their son, the Infante John, Prince of Asturias. After the Prince's death (October 4, 1497), Oviedo went to Italy, and there acted as secretary to Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba. In 1514 he was appointed supervisor of gold smeltings at Santo Domingo, and on his return to Spain in 1523 was appointed historiographer of the Indies. He paid five more visits to America before his death, which took place at Valladolid in 1557. At one point he was placed in charge of the Fortaleza Ozama, the famous fort in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where there is a large statue of him, a gift to that country from a King of Spain (...)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzalo_Fernández_de_Oviedo_y_Valdés acc. 22/01/15

Related persons


Source documents
Date Document
1548 Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, Libro de la Cámara Real del Príncipe Don Juan.
1526 Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, Sumario de la natural y general historia de las Indias.
1532 Catálogo real.


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