José de Acosta
His deductions regarding the ill effects of crossing over the Andes in 1570 related to the atmosphere being too thin for human needs led to the modern understanding of a variety of altitude sickness, now referred to as Acosta's disease.José de Acosta was born in Medina del Campo in Spain, about twenty-four miles from Valladolid, in Old Castile, on the left bank of the swampy river Zapardiel, and overlooked by the old castle of La Mota.He took the route, with fourteen or fifteen companions, across the mountainous province of Huarochiri, and by the lofty pass of Pariacaca (over 14,000 ft (4,300 m)), where the whole party suffered severely from the effects of the rarefied atmosphere.At Juli, Father Acosta received information respecting the Amazon River from a brother who had formerly been in the famous piratical cruise of Lope de Aguirre.[10] Acosta founded a number of colleges, among them those of Arequipa, Potosí, Chuquisaca, Panama and La Paz, even when met with considerable opposition from the Viceroy Toledo.His official duties obliged him to investigate personally a very extensive range of territory, so that he acquired a practical knowledge of the vast province, and of its aboriginal inhabitants.In a form more concise than that employed by his predecessors, Francisco Lopez de Gómara and Oviedo, he treated the natural and philosophic history of the New World from a broader point of view.The Historia also described Inca and Aztec customs and history, as well as other information such as winds and tides, lakes, rivers, plants, animals, and mineral resources in the New World.
José AcostaSociety of JesusMedina del CampoSpanishJesuitmissionarynaturalistLatin Americaaltitude sicknessValladolidOld Castilecastle of La MotaconversoBernal DiazCartagena de IndiasNombre de DiosCapiraViceroy of Perucordillerasnow blindnessDon Francisco de ToledoTúpac AmarulicentiatePolo de OndegardoJuan Ortiz de MatienzoCharcasChirihuana IndiansLake TiticacaAmazon RiverLope de AguirreRímac RivervalleyPedro Sarmiento de GamboaSir Francis DrakeStrait of MagellanArequipaPotosíChuquisacaPanamaLa PazThird Council of Limamagnetic compassCorvo IslandAzoresGulf of TehuantepecOaxacaAztecsMexicoAlonzo Sánchezinvasion of ChinaSalamancaSevilleNew WorldFrancisco Lopez de GómaraOviedoBering StraitViceroyalty of PeruList of Jesuit scientistsList of Roman Catholic scientist-clericsDavíd Carrascopublic domainCatholic EncyclopediaDictionary of Scientific Biographyarchive.todayFrances Lopez-MorillasPagden, AnthonyEdward Grimeston