1582-1657

Spanish missionary to the New World whose Historia del nuevo mondo contains a number of valuable observations, including the first recorded mention of rubber extraction. A Jesuit, Cobo went to Peru in 1615, and spent the remainder of his life in the Americas. During that time, he wrote a number of works, including the Historia or History of the New World. The work contains detailed commentaries on animal and plant life, along with a passage discussing the extraction of liquid resin from a rubber tree.