Venegas, Miguel (1680 - 1764)

Miguel Venegas (1680 - 1764) was a Spanish colonial Jesuit administrator active in Mexico. Venegas was born in Puebla and served mostly in central Mexico. He is best known for his published reports on the Christianization of the indigenous peoples of the southern Baja California peninsula. His writings include the first history of California, which is rich in geographical, historical, and ethnographic detail, despite his never having actually been to Baja California. He was born in Puebla and lived most of his life in central Mexico. His report on the efforts of the Society of Jesus in California would be derived from published Jesuit reports and those of the friars themselves, as well as correspondence with missionaries in the field. His manuscript was completed in 1739 and sent to Spain for publication. There it sat, largely thanks to the contentious relationship between the Society of Jesus and the Spanish Crown. The Jesuit historian Andrés Marcos Burriel revised the manuscript in 1750, and in this form, it would eventually be published in 1757 as Noticia de la California. The work would be translated into English, Dutch, French, and German, becoming the foundational source on life in California. Venegas also wrote biographies of prominent missionaries, manuals for parish priests, and other religious works.