Miguel Venegas

Miguel Venegas (1680–1764) was a Jesuit administrator and historian, producing a standard geographical, historical, and ethnographic description of Baja California, Mexico -- a region he never personally visited.

Venegas was born in Puebla and served in central Mexico. In the mid-1730s, he was assigned the task of writing an account of Baja California. This seems to have been, at least in part, to counter the setback to the missionaries' efforts and reputation caused by the Pericú revolt on the southernmost part of the peninsula in 1734. The historian was given access to the missionaries' correspondence and reports, and he was able to exchange letters with them to acquire further information.

Venegas' 600-page manuscript, "Empresas Apostólicas," was completed in 1739. It was sent to Spain, but it languished there rather than seeing publication, perhaps because of the writer's prolix style and the political sensitivity of relations between the Jesuits and the Spanish crown. Another Jesuit historian, Andrés Marcos Burriel, extensively revised Venegas' manuscript in the 1750s, and it was finally published in 1757 as "Noticia de la California". This work by Venegas and Burriel was subsequently translated into English (1759), Dutch (1761–1762), French (1766–1767), and German (1769–1770), and it became the standard source for information about the early Californias. The original manuscript version was published in a facsimile edition in 1979.

Venegas also wrote a biography of Juan María de Salvatierra, the founder of the Jesuit mission system in Baja California (1754a, 1929), and other works of pious intent (1931, 1954b).

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