José de Acosta. Historia natural y moral de Indias. Sevilla: Casa de Iuan de Leon, 1590.
José de Acosta, S.J., spent many years in the New World and wrote various works on historical, scientific, religious and literary topics. The Historia natural y moral, his most important work, is both a chronicle and a treatise on the natural and social sciences. It was first published in Seville in 1590 and went through six editions within the next three years. It was also translated into German, French, Dutch, English, Italian, and Latin.
The Historia natural y moral objectively and exhaustively describes the new regions, animal species, minerals, and cultures of Mexico and Peru, the most advanced centers of civilization in the New World. For its rigor and breadth it has been referred to as "the first American scientific treatise."
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