Joseph Cassani (also spelt Casani, 26 November 1673 – 1750) was a Spanish Catholic historian.

Life

Cassani was born in

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in 1673, entered the Society of Jesus on 16 November 1686, was still in active service of priestly functions in 1745, and died in 1750. He was one of the founders of the ''Academia de la Lengua española'' (Academy of the Spanish Language) at Madrid. He was a member of the Academia from 6 July 1713.

Works

Cassani published a ''Diccionario de la Lengua Catellana'' (Catalan dictionary) in 1726–1730, in six volumes. Cassani's ''Historia de la Provincia de la Compañia de Jesus del Nueva Reyno de Granada en la América'' (Madrid, 1741) is the only regular chronicle of the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

Order in Colombia thus far extant. The fact that Cassani was never in the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

detracts somewhat from the usefulness of this otherwise valuable history, as far as ethnologic and ethnographic data are concerned; but it does include data on the missions in the upper

Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...

basin. The work is exceedingly rare. Cassani's other works include: * ''Admirable vida, singulares virtudes etc. del extçtico Varon P. Dionisio Rickel'' (Madrid, 1738) * ''Varones ilustres de la Compañia de Jesus Escual militar de fortificacion Tratado de la naturaleza y orígen de los cometas'' (Madrid, 1737).

Sources

* *Sommervogel-de Backer, Bibl. des éscriv. de la c. de J. *Diccionario Hispano-americano *Salvç; Catçlogo de la Biblioteca de Salvç (Valencia, 1874) *Acosta, Compendia hist. del Descub. y Coloniz., de la Nueva Granada (Paris, 1848) *Brinton, The American Race (New York, 1891) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cassani, Joseph 18th-century Spanish historians 17th-century Spanish Jesuits Writers from Madrid 1673 births 1750 deaths 18th-century Spanish Jesuits