Antonio de Alcedo
Encyclopedia
Antonio de Alcedo was a soldier and scholar.
Born at Quito
(Ecuador
), 1755, where his father was President of the Real Audiencia de Quito from 1728 to 1737. He selected the military career, and rose to the rank of Brigadier General
in 1792, in the Spanish army. He wrote a dictionary, historical and geographical, of the Novohispanic New World possessions, entitled Diccionario geográfico-histórico de las Indias Occidentales ó América: es á saber: de los reynos del Perú, Nueva España, Tierra Firme, Chile, y Nuevo reyno de Granada. The work was published at Madrid
and issued in five volumes from 1786 to 1789. The earlier work of Father Giovanni Coletti, S.J., "Dizionario del l'America meridionale" (Venice, 1771) was a substantial basis.
The work of Alcedo was translated into English by G. A. Thompson in 1812, and that translation is looked upon by many as an improvement, whereas it in fact teems with errors from which the original is relatively free.
Born at Quito
Quito
San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito , is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...
(Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
), 1755, where his father was President of the Real Audiencia de Quito from 1728 to 1737. He selected the military career, and rose to the rank of Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
in 1792, in the Spanish army. He wrote a dictionary, historical and geographical, of the Novohispanic New World possessions, entitled Diccionario geográfico-histórico de las Indias Occidentales ó América: es á saber: de los reynos del Perú, Nueva España, Tierra Firme, Chile, y Nuevo reyno de Granada. The work was published at Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
and issued in five volumes from 1786 to 1789. The earlier work of Father Giovanni Coletti, S.J., "Dizionario del l'America meridionale" (Venice, 1771) was a substantial basis.
The work of Alcedo was translated into English by G. A. Thompson in 1812, and that translation is looked upon by many as an improvement, whereas it in fact teems with errors from which the original is relatively free.