Jerónimo de Vivar

Who is Jerónimo de Vivar?

Jerónimo de Vivar was a Spanish historian of the early conquest and settlement of the Kingdom of Chile, and author of Crónica y relación copiosa y verdadera de los reinos de Chile.

Little is known about his life except that according to his own conclusion to the Crónica he was born in Burgos, Spain. He had come to the Indies some time before coming to Chile but no record of his passage was recorded. It is thought he arrived in Chile with the forces returning in 1549, from Peru with Francisco de Villagra overland. This gave him an opportunity to make detailed observation on the places and people in northern Chile that appear in the Crónica.

Vivar was an eyewitness to some events, like Pedro de Valdivia's overland expedition to settle Concepcion and the Battle of Andalien in 1550, some of the sea voyages described, and the expedition to settle Valdivia and the exploration of the surrounding area. He often wrote based on reports of others that had witnessed the events from the time of the first settlement, including official documents. Because of similarities to these documents some historians believed he was actually Valdivia's secretary, Juan de Cárdenas writing under a pseudonym. However a study of their known movements and activities precluded that being the case.