Juan de Torquemada | |
|---|---|
 Fray Juan de Torquemada, from Lucas Alamán's Historia de la República Mexicana (1860) | |
| Title | Minister Provincial, Province of Santo Evangelio, México |
| Personal | |
| Born | Juan c. 1562 |
| Died | 1624 (aged 61–62) |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Notable work(s) | architect, engineer, historian |
| Organization | |
| Order | Franciscan (1579–1624) |
| Senior posting | |
| Period in office | 1614-1617 |
| Successor | Juan López |
| Ordination | c. 1587 |
Juan de Torquemada (c. 1562 – 1624) was a Franciscan friar, active as missionary in colonial Mexico and considered the "leading Franciscan chronicler of his generation."[1] Administrator, engineer, architect and ethnographer, he is most famous for his monumental work commonly known as Monarquía indiana ("Indian Monarchy"), a survey of the history and culture of the indigenous peoples of New Spain together with an account of their conversion to Christianity, first published in Spain in 1615 and republished in 1723. Monarquia Indiana was the "prime text of Mexican history, and was destined to influence all subsequent chronicles until the twentieth century."[2] It was used by later historians, the Franciscan Augustin de Vetancurt and most importantly by 18th-century Jesuit Francisco Javier Clavijero. No English translation of this work has ever been published.