Acosta, José de

Acosta, José de (c. 1539-1600), Spanish missionary and writer, born in Medina del Campo. He became a Jesuit in 1551, and 20 years later he went to Peru as a missionary, serving as provincial of his religious order, the Society of Jesus, from 1576 to 1581. His catechism in the language of the Aymara and Quechua was the first book printed (1583) in Peru. He became rector of the Jesuit college at Salamanca in 1598. He is remembered chiefly for his monumental work on the natural history and customs of the aboriginal peoples of Spanish America, Historia natural y moral de las Indias (1590; Natural and Moral History of the Indias, 1604), which was translated into most of the major European languages within 15 years of publication.