Juan López de Velasco, la "Descripción universal" and other subtle works

Abstract

Juan Lopez de Velasco was a complex character, whose job in the Consejo de Indias culminated in a major work, the Descripcion universal de las Indias, a powerful document which did not see the light until 1894. Besides, in a life devoted to work and study, Velasco sought to gauge length through the observation of Lunar eclipses, but, at the same time, he acted as censor, removing a couple of treatises on Lazarillo de Tormes and giving to the printer a Lazarillo castigado which was in force for three hundred years, keeping the book for posterity. On the other hand, Velasco dallied with orthography and orthology and proposed measures which are still in place since they lay the foundations for the later orthographic norm, sanctioned by the RAE. He was concerned with children’s education and presented to the king Philip II proposals which were followed up some years afterwards. We may consider Velasco the first polygraph of the Spanish Renaissance.