Pedro Peralta y Barnuevo

Pedro Peralta y Barnuevo (1663 to 1743) was a Peruvian polymath born in Lima, described as an Enlightenment-era mathematician, cosmographer, historian, scholar, poet and astronomer. He studied Roman and canon law at the University of San Marcos, where he took the degree of doctor in canons and laws, and he mastered Latin, Greek, French, Portuguese, Italian, English and Quechua. He was rector of the University of San Marcos in 1715 and 1716, and was a member of the Académie des sciences of Paris because he collaborated in the Franco-Spanish geodesic expedition begun in 1735 under Charles Marie de la Condamine to determine the length of a meridian arc. His works include Historia de España vindicada (1730) and the heroic poem Lima fundada (1732).