Velasco, Juan López de (c. 1530 - 1598)

Juan López de Velasco (c. 1530 - 1598) was a Spanish cosmographer and historian. He served as Spain's senior chronicler of the Indies in the second half of the century, during the reign of Philip II. He produced a number of charts of the Americas - of Guatemala, Panama, Chile and Mexico - which would provide the basis of the maps included in Herrera y Tordesillas' 1601 geography of the West Indies. He also created a 51-point rubric for the cataloguing of every town, village or city falling within Philip II's domains.