500 Years of Brazil
Divisão de Bibliotecas e Documentação
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The Works

ANGHIERA, Pietro Martire d'. De Orbe Novo. Decades     octo quas scripsit ab anno 1493 ad 1526.Matriti: Typis     Viduae et Fillae Gomez Fuentenebro, 1892.

He who is claimed to be the first to write a history of the New World was born in Ancona, Italy, in 1455 (or 1459, according to some sources).

After his studies at prestigious Renaissance universities, Pietro Martire d’Anghiera irradiated knowledge and fame among the cardinals and the wealthy of Rome. Joining the forces of the Catholic Kings in Granada, he later became a priest and tutor to the princes. In 1505 he was appointed Dean of the Chapter of the Cathedral of Granada, and later member of the Council of the Indies. Tendo

The author of De Orbe Novo was a contemporary of famous navigators such as Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Cortez, Fernão de Magalhães, Amerigo Vespucci and Cabot, some of whom he knew quite well. He was also acquainted with others who were connected with business in the Indies and the venture of navigating and conquering the new continent, which enabled him to gather the necessary information and knowledge for writing about what he held to be the greatest enterrprise known to man since the Creation and Salvation of the world.