Viajes al Río de la Plata y a Potosí (1657-1660)
Autor: Acarete (du Biscay) , Accarette Du Biscay
Número de Páginas: 54
There is very scarce information on the author of this peculiar book, that many scholars consider initiated the British appetite for the Spanish colonies in South America. Accarette -as he calls himself- or Accarette du Biscay -as appears in the English translation of his story- seems to have been a French-Basque adventurer who traveled twice to South America between 1657 and 1660 under the false identity of a Spanish subject, as the Spanish regime would not allow non-subjects to disembark in its colonies. His most evident purpose -a fact Accarette does not hide- was the lucrative smuggling business, and his urge to make another trip prompted him to write a report to no one else but the French king Louis XIV. The variety and detail of this adventurous businessman -mixture of spy and filibuster- observations on everyday colonial life and customs in Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Salta, Jujuy, the mules road, the hide civilization and the Potosi mines, is a highly valuable testimony for the River Plate, Tucuman and Potosi XVII Century history study, more so considering the scarcity of documentation on those places at that time. Frustrated corsair, or ill-fated governor of hipothetical...
