This summer, I worked with Professor Paravisini-Gerbert and Professor Aronna to prepare a translation of the first volume of Gonzalo de Oviedo’s General and Natural History of the Indies and Ocean Sea for publication. As the royal historian for Spain in the early 1500s, Oviedo produced the first comprehensive history of Spanish America. Covering local flora and fauna, indigenous practices, political scandals, brutal Spanish colonization, and much more, this account offers a vibrant and information dense view into this violent, fascinating, and formative period of American history, and I feel beyond lucky to have helped with the first ever complete translation of this work.

Illustrations from the 1851 edition of Oviedo’s General and Natural History of the Indies.

One of my responsibilities this summer included assisting with proofreading and editing the translation. This project was a collaborative effort, with many different students translating different chapters; this meant that despite each translators’ high quality work, sometimes the same word would be translated several different ways across chapters. We cross-referenced each chapter to the original text while editing, ensuring the final product would be a faithful and cohesive adaptation. 

A view of the editing process–– we were changing the translation of “oidor” from “judge” to the more accurate “high court judge.”

Once the chapters were edited and triple checked, I would help upload them to Scalar. Scalar is a website that flows like a book, and my duties included adding content, styling the website, and working out any bugs along the way. Through this process I was exposed to a wide variety of art from early Spanish America, learned the basics of CSS, and gained experience building a website.

An example of how the books look on Scalar.

However, above all, I was able to catch a glimpse of what life was like in early Spanish America, complete with details I would have never otherwise imagined. Sometimes horrifying, sometimes snarky, and always interesting, this Historia is a treasure trove of information and I am grateful to have played a role in bringing it to a wider audience.