Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas. Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos en las islas i tierra firme del mar oceano. 7 vols. (8 decadas). Madrid: Emplenta (sic) Real; Iuan Flamenco; Iuan de la Cuesta, 1601-1615..
Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas was secretary to the viceroy of Naples. Philip II also designated him official chronicler of Castile and the Indies. He wrote numerous historical works and translations of classical texts.
The Historia general was his principal work, published in Madrid in seven volumes from 1601 to 1615. It was translated into Latin and French in 1622, into German in 1624, and into Dutch in 1706.
Herrera never travelled to America but was able to obtain information from official documents kept by the Crown and the Council of the Indies. He consulted manuscripts by authors such as Bartolomé de Las Casas and Pedro Cieza de León. When narrating Hernando de Soto's expedition to North America, Herrera copied directly from an early draft of Florida written by Garcilaso Inca de la Vega.
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