Joaquín Acosta | |
|---|---|
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| Born | (1800-12-29)29 December 1800 |
| Died | 21 February 1852(1852-02-21) (aged 51) Guaduas, Cundinamarca, Republic of New Granada |
| Children | Soledad Acosta de Samper (daughter) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Geologist |
Tomás Joaquín de Acosta y Pérez de Guzmán (December 29, 1800 – February 21, 1852)[citation needed] was a Colombian explorer, historian,chorographer, andgeologist.
A native ofColombia in South America, he served in the Colombian army and in 1834 attempted a scientific survey of the territory betweenSocorro and theMagdalena River. Seven years later he explored western Colombia fromAntioquia toAnserma studying its topography, its natural history and the traces of itsaboriginal inhabitants.[1]
In 1845 he went to Spain to examine such documentary material concerning Colombia and its colonial history as was then accessible, and three years later he published hisCompendio, a work on the discovery and colonization ofNew Granada (Colombia). The map accompanying this work, now out of date, was very fair for the time, and the work itself is still valuable for its abundant bibliographic references and biographic notes. What he says in it of the writings ofGonzalo Jiménez de Quesada the conqueror of New Granada, is very incomplete and in many ways erroneous, but his biographies remain a guide to the student of Spanish-American history. One year after theCompendio, another work calledSemenario appeared atParis, embodying the botanical papers ofFrancisco José de Caldas.[1]
He was the son of Josef Acosta and Soledad Pérez de Guzman and married Caroline Kemble Rowe. His daughterSoledad Acosta de Samper, born May 5, 1833, became a historian and writer and marriedJosé María Samper, Colombian lawyer, writer and politician.[2]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Joaquín Acosta".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
