José de Acosta, De natura Novi Orbis. Cologne, 1596.
José de Acosta was born in Medina del Campo, Spain, and entered the Jesuit order at age 14. He traveled to Peru in 1570 where he taught theology and served as the Provincial for his order. Over the course of his many years in Peru, he collected voluminous notes on the natural history of the New World, which he set out in his Historia natural y moral de las Indias. He included information about pre-Columbian civilizations, particularly the Aztecs and Incas, and relied on critical analysis and exploration rather than explanations based on wonders or miracles. His work was well received in European scientific circles, and was quickly translated into Italian, French, Dutch, German, and English.