Cristóbal Acosta

Illustration from Tractado de las drogas, y medicinas de las Indias orientales , Burgos 1578.

Cristóbal Acosta , Portuguese Cristóvão da Costa (* 1515 on the Cape Verde Islands , † around 1594 in Huelva ) was a Portuguese doctor and botanist . He is considered a pioneer in the study of the plants of the Orient, especially their use in medicine. Its official botanical author's abbreviation is " C.Acosta ".

Life

His father was a Jew born in Portugal who probably emigrated to a fortification in North Africa in 1497 . Most likely, Cristóbal Acosta was born in the Cape Verde Islands or in one of the Portuguese possessions in Africa . Nothing is known about his upbringing and training.

In 1578 he wrote the Tractado de las drogas y medicinas de las Indias orientales in Latin , which contains observations on oriental drugs. Another notable work was the Tractado de la yerbas, plantas, frutas y animales , but this script is believed to have been lost.

Cristóbal Acosta first traveled to India as a soldier in 1550. He participated in a number of campaigns against the local population and was captured in one of them and imprisoned in Bengal. On his return to Portugal, he joined his former captain, Luiz de Ataide, who had been appointed Viceroy of India. He returned to Goa , India in 1568 . In 1569 he was appointed doctor at the royal hospital in Cochin . In 1571 he was known as a collector of plant species from different parts of India. When Ataide's tenure ended in 1572, he returned to Portugal.

From 1576 to 1587 he served as a surgeon and later a doctor in Burgos . When his wife died, he said goodbye and retired to a hermitage. He died in Huelva , Spain .

The Acosta crater on the moon was named in his honor.

Works

• Tractado de las drogas, y medicinas de las Indias orientales , Burgos 1578. (digitized version )
• Aromatum et medicamentorum in orientali India nascertium. Antwerp 1582. (digitized version)
• Trattato ... della historia, natura, et virtu delle droghe medicinali, & altri semplici rarissimi, che vengono portati dalle Indie Orientali in Europe. Venice 1585. (digitized version)
• Tratado en loor de las mugeres. Venice 1592 (digitized version)

literature

• Ruy de Mascarenhas Leiria: Cristovão da Costa, médico hispano-portugues: revisão da sua naturalidade, da sua época e sua formação salmantina. Madrid 1995 ISBN 978-84-920016-3-7
• Harry Friedenwald: The Jews and Medicine: Essays. Baltimore 1944.
• Umberto Giulio Paoli: Cristobal Acosta e le sue opere. In: Archeion 19 (1937), pp. 317-347.
• Isidore Simon:  Acosta, Cristobal. In: Encyclopaedia Judaica . 2nd Edition. Volume 1, Detroit / New York a. a. 2007, ISBN 978-0-02-865929-9 , pp. 258-359 (English).

Web links

• Acosta, Cristobal in Galileo Project .