A page from the Sumario Compendioso.

A page from the Sumario Compendioso.

Detail map of Centro, Ciudad de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico Overview map of Centro, Ciudad de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico

A: Centro, Ciudad de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico

Brother Juan Diaz Publishes the First Treatise on Mathematics Published in the Western Hemisphere and the First Textbook on Any Subject Besides Religion Printed Outside of Europe

1556
Engraved portrait of Hernan Cortes by W. Holl and published by Charles Knight.

Engraved portrait of Hernan Cortes by W. Holl and published by Charles Knight.

In 1556 Brother Juan Diez, a companion of Hernando Cortès (Hernán) in the conquest of New Spain, published the Sumario Compendioso in Mexico City at the press of Juan Pablos. The Sumario Compendioso was the earliest treatise on mathematics published in the western hemisphere, and also the first textbook on any non-religious subject to be printed outside of Europe.

In his introduction to The Sumario Compendioso of Brother Juan Diez, the Earliest Mathematical Work of the New World (1921), a facsimile and translation, David Eugene Smith wrote of the existence of possibly four copies including one (incomplete) in the Biblioteca Nacional at Madrid, which he used for his edition, and a copy in the British Library.

"Not again in the sixteenth century did the Mexican printers publish any work on mathematics, except for a brief Instrucción Nautica which appeared in 1587. The press was generally true to its early purpose to issue only books relating to the conversion of the native inhabitants to the way of the cross" (Smith, introduction cited above, 6).

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