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Historical Bibliography Updated: February 7, 2020

Sumario de la natural historia de las Indias.

Publication Details

Toledo: R. de Petras, 1525 CE.

First known description of the medicinal plants of Central America. Oviedo first described chigoe (“jiggers”?) in this book. "The book is divided into 86 chapters, focused mostly on American flora and fauna. It begins with a preface dedicated to Carlos V , in which he mentions what issues are discussed in his book. The first chapter is devoted to navigation, and subsequent chapters deal with different geographical and social aspects of the Spanish island , Cuba and Terra Firma . The chapters of the terrestrial fauna begin in the XI with the tiger, and from the XXVII they focus on the birds. From XLIX to LXI, they talk about the smaller animals, like some insects, snakes, lizards and toads. Chapter LXII begins the descriptions of the flora and their respective fruits, which conclude with the LXXX. The last six sections refer to different curiosities, such as mining or fishing, ending with a final dedication to the emperor of Spain" (Wikipedia).  A 3-volume edition was published at Madrid in 1851-53.

Catalog MetadataReference Information
Entry Number#1800
Permanent Linkhttps://staging.historyofmedicine.com/entry/1933
Author Bio LinkWikipedia ↗
External URLsumaria-de-la-historia-natural-de-las-indias

Geographic Context

Publication place: Toledo

Mentioned in annotation: Madrid