“Martín Fernández de Enciso’s Suma de geographía (1519) is one of the cornerstones of Spanish cartographic and navigational literature in the first half of the sixteenth century. Although the book is known today mainly for containing the first printed description of America in Spanish, the Suma was in fact a synthesis of the geographic knowledge of all the known world” (Andres Prieto, Alexander and the Geographer’s Eye: Allegories of Knowledge in Martín Fernández de Enciso’s ‘Suma de geographía’, in: Hispanic Review, Vol. 78 (2010), p. 169).

“The word “America” was here used for the first time in a Spanish printed text, a denomination that in Spain remained rare until the nineteenth-century, the word “Indies” being the preferred term. Using a great variety of both oral and written sources plus his own experience, Enciso compiled a practical book with useful information, especially for pilots. In his description of the natives he gives precise information about the distinct physical characteristics of each tribe as well as their particular attitude towards the Spanish” (The John Carter Brown Library, Spanish Historical Writing about the New World).

“It is not known when, why, or with whom he went to America, but in 1508 [Enciso] was living on the island of Santo Domingo, where he had accumulated a fortune in the practice of law. In 1509 Alonzo de Ojeda (or Hojeda) had been granted the government of Terra Firme (the region about the Isthmus of Darien), but he lacked the funds necessary to colonize the country. He then applied to Enciso, who had the reputation of being rich, able, and adventurous, and the latter agreed to provide a vessel with men and provisions. Ojeda set out in advance in 1509, and it was agreed that Enciso was to equip his vessel and follow him in 1510. When the latter arrived, he found that Ojeda, having been beset by hostile Indians, and having exhausted his supplies and ammunition, had returned in search of him. Taking the survivors of Ojeda’s expedition, Enciso founded the town of Santa María la Antigua del Darien (1510). Among his followers was one Vasco Nuñez de Balboa who afterwards became famous for his discovery of the Pacific Ocean, then called the South Sea (Mar del Sur), and who had joined the expedition without Enciso’s knowledge or authority, seeking to escape his creditors. Soon after the founding of the new city, Balboa stirred up rebellion among the men, and was able to depose Enciso, whom he banished to Spain. Here, the latter complained to the king of Balboa’s arbitrary conduct and injustice, and the king, partly owing to these accusations, sent Pedrarias Dávila to America in 1514 as Governor of Darien, with instructions to have the wrongs of Enciso righted. Enciso accompanied the expedition as “alguacil mayor” and continued to oppose Balboa until the latter’s execution by Dávila in 1517… ‘The geographical portion is given with great care, and contains the first descriptions of the lands discovered in the western seas, that is, the results of the explorations of the Spaniards up to 1519. It is, on the whole, a more accurate work than the other early works of its kind” (Catholic Encyclopedia).

The author:

Fernández de Enciso’s (ca. 1470-1528) knowledge came not from previous works but from his own experiences as a conquistador and early explorer of the Americas; he was a Spanish sailor and geographer, who as early as 1508 can be placed in Hispaniola. “A great hydrographer and explorer, his work is invaluable for the early geographical history of this continent” (Harrisse). In 1509/1510 he joined Alonso de Ojeda’s expedition, and later served as a colonial administrator until his return to Spain, where he wrote and saw his work published. His publication became instantly recognized as a fundamental text for the knowledge of the New World; editions followed in 1530 and 1546.

Enciso's work was immediately recognized as invaluable, and it was used to instruct the young Charles I, who ascended the Spanish throne the year after its publication. Two other editions followed, in 1530 and 1546. Numerous writers on New World history have praised it both as a navigational guide and an historical work.

Church 42; European americana 519/4; Harrisse (bav) 97; Palau 88433; Sabin 22551.