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The Library

Forty Centuries of Christian Writing

1774 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.

1501–1600

The Sixteenth Century

2 works

1588

Latin

On Procuring the Salvation of the Indians

José de Acosta · 1540–1600

A manual of missionary method arguing that peoples differ in their capacities and customs and must be approached differently, and that force produces only pretence.

Jesuit · MissiologyRead elsewhere

1590

Spanish

Natural and Moral History of the Indies

José de Acosta · 1540–1600

Geography, altitude sickness, silver mining, and Andean religion, with an early argument that the Americas were peopled by migration from Asia across a northern land bridge.

Jesuit · Natural historyRead elsewhere

1601–1700

The Seventeenth Century

1 work

c. 1615

Spanish

The First New Chronicle and Good Government

Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno

Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala · c. 1535–c. 1616

Twelve hundred pages and four hundred drawings by an Andean nobleman, addressed to the king of Spain, documenting Inca history and the abuses of colonial rule.

Western · ChronicleRead elsewhere