The Misfortunes of Alonso Ramírez : : The True Adventures of a Spanish American with 17th-Century Pirates / / Fabio López Lázaro.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Texas Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: López Lázaro, Fabio,
• Place / Publishing House: Austin : : University of Texas Press, , [2021]; ©2011
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Series: Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Series in Latin American and Latino Art and Culture
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (256 p.)

In 1690, a dramatic account of piracy was published in Mexico City. The Misfortunes of Alonso Ramírez described the incredible adventures of a poor Spanish American carpenter who was taken captive by British pirates near the Philippines and forced to work for them for two years. After circumnavigating the world, he was freed and managed to return to Mexico, where the Spanish viceroy commissioned the well-known Mexican scholar Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora to write down Ramírez's account as part of an imperial propaganda campaign against pirates. The Misfortunes of Alonso Ramírez has long been regarded as a work of fiction—in fact, as Latin America's first novel—but Fabio López Lázaro makes a convincing case that the book is a historical account of real events, albeit full of distortions and lies. Using contemporary published accounts, as well as newly discovered documents from Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, and Dutch archives, he proves that Ramírez voyaged with one of the most famous pirates of all time, William Dampier. López Lázaro's critical translation of The Misfortunes provides the only extensive Spanish eyewitness account of pirates during the period in world history (1650–1750) when they became key agents of the European powers jockeying for international political and economic dominance. An extensive introduction places The Misfortunes within the worldwide struggle that Spain, England, and Holland waged against the ambitious Louis XIV of France, which some historians consider to be the first world war.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- A Note on the Translation -- Introductory Study -- CHAPTER 1 Introduction -- CHAPTER 2 The Viceroy, the Carpenter, and the Pirate -- CHAPTER 3 Siamese Treasure, Mexican Merchants, and the Law -- CHAPTER 4 Conclusions -- The Misfortunes of Alonso Ramirez A CRITICAL TRANSLATION -- DEDICATORY EPISTLE -- IMPRIMATUR -- SUMA DE LICENCIAS [LICENSES] -- CHAPTER 1 Motives which induced Alonso Ramirez to leave his native land.12 Occupation and voyages in New Spain. His stay in Mexico until his travels from there to the Philippine Islands -- CHAPTER 2 He leaves Acapulco for the Philippines; the route normally taken is laid out and a description is given of what he did with his time until his capture by the English -- CHAPTER 3 Wherein are listed the pirates’ robberies and cruelties on the high seas and on land until they reached America -- CHAPTER 4 He is given his freedom by the pirates and remembers his sufferings while imprisoned -- CHAPTER 5 Alonso Ramirez and his companions sail with no clear knowledge of their initial location or of their ultimate destination; their struggles152 and anxieties until the moment their boat ran aground are described -- CHAPTER 6 The trials of thirst, hunger, illness, and death that hounded them on this coast; unexpectedly they come upon Catholic people and come to realize that they are on mainland Yucatan in North America -- CHAPTER 7 They travel to Tejosuco and from there to Valladolid, where they experience trouble; they reach Merida, but Alonso Ramirez returns to Valladolid, where the troubles increase; the reason he came to Mexico and what resulted from his trip there -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index