ABOUT THIS BOOK

In 2009, 319 years after its publication, and following over a century of copious scholarly speculation about the work, José F. Buscaglia is the first scholar to furnish direct and irrefutable proof that the story contained in the Infortunios/Misfortunes is based on the life and times of a man certifiably named Alonso Ramírez, who was shipwrecked on Herradura Point in the Coast of Yucatán on Sunday September 18, 1689. This first bilingual edition of the Infortunios/Misfortunes reports the findings of almost two decades of sustained research in pursuit, on land and by sea, of a most elusive historical character who was, as we now can attest with all degree of certainty, the first American known to have circumnavigated the globe. Captured by pirates, shipwrecked, and eventually rescued and sent on his way, this is one man’s story of his unanticipated voyage around the Early Modern world. With transcription, translation, notes, maps, images, and critical essay by Jose F. Buscaglia-Salgado, this Rutgers edition is the most complete and authoritative study on a work that grants us privileged access to the intricacies of early American subjectivity.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

José F. Buscaglia is a professor and chair of the Department of Cultures, Societies, and Global Studies at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the author of Undoing Empire: Race, and Nation in the Mulatto Caribbean and two books in Spanish, one being the Spanish edition of the Infortunios.

REVIEWS

“Buscaglia-Salgado’s bilingual edition of Infortunios de Alonso Ramirez/The Misfortunes of Alonso Ramirez is an essential contribution. Multi-faceted and meticulously researched, it situates the story in the context of a global history of empires and piracy, opening new channels for further analysis and research. Deftly deciphering documents in colonial archives, questioning editorial practices, sketching maps, and revisiting his own sailing voyages, Buscaglia-Salgado has tracked Ramírez’s routes, uncovering some of the mysteries surrounding the protagonist and making visible a global historical process.”

— Arcadio Díaz-Quiñones, Princeton University

"Buscaglia's Spanish-English edition of Siguenza y Gongora's greatest work is a magnificent illustration of what the fields of history and literature can offer when they are brought together. And it is fun to read, to boot! The text takes readers on a fascinating, whirlwind tour through the interlocking worlds of seventeenth-century Mexico and Southeast Asia."

— Camilla Townsend, author of Malintzin's Choices: An Indian Woman in the Conquest of Mexico

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents
In the Footsteps of Alonso Ramírez: A decade in pursuit of the most elusive American pirate
Maps and Illustrations
Acknowledgements

Misfortunes of Alonso Ramírez
About the translation
To the most excellent gentleman don Gaspar de Sandoval Cerda Silva y Mendoza
Approval of the licentiate [in canonic law] don Francisco de Ayerra Santa María, chaplain of the King our lord in his Royal Convent of Jesús María in Mexico [City].
Summary of licenses

Motives he had for leaving his home country. Jobs [he had] and travels he made through New Spain. Of his presence in México until crossing over to the Philippines.
He leaves Acapulco for the Philippines . An account of the route of this voyage and of how he spent the time until he was captured by the English.
A summary is given of the plundering and cruelties carried out by these pirates on land and sea until arriving in America.
He is set free by the pirates and he remembers what he endured as their captive.
Alonso Ramírez, and his shipmates, sails without knowing where they were or where they were going. The troubles and frights they suffered until running aground are retold.
Thirst, hunger, disease, and death that aggrieved them in this coast. Unexpectedly they find Catholic folk and know themselves to be in Yucatan, on the mainland of North America.
They go to Tihosuco and from there to Valladolid where they experience hardships. They arrive in Mérida. Alonso Ramírez returns to Valladolid and the hardships are greater. The reason why he came to Mexico City and what resulted from it.

The history of the first American of universal standing: How Alonso Ramírez, a.k.a Felipe Ferrer, turned the world on its head by circumnavigating the globe.
The discovery of Americanness and the presage of the end to empire
Consummate impostors always tell the best piratical stories
On motherhood, mentoring and being the best at what you do
How Ramírez stole the name and reimagined the character of Felipe Ferrer
An American con man takes on the English "King of the Sea"
Lost at sea, or sailing the West Indies as an Englishman?
The story comes together on the Coast of Bacalar
From pirate to slave owner in search of legitimacy
Putting to paper what "will be very advisable for the printing press to eternalize"
Reader beware
If and only "If"
Bibliography
About the Author

Infortunios de Alonso Ramírez
Acerca de la transcripción
Al excelentísimo señor don Gaspar de Sandoval Cerda Silva y Mendoza
Aprobación del licenciado don Francisco de Ayerra Santa María, capellán del Rey nuestro señor en su Convento Real de Jesús María de México
Suma de las licencias

Motivos que tuvo para salir de su patria. Ocupaciones y viajes que hizo por la Nueva España. [De] su asistencia en México hasta pasar a las Filipinas.
Sale de Acapulco para las Filipinas. Dícese la derrota de este viaje y en lo que gastó el tiempo hasta que lo apresaron ingleses.
Pónense en compendio los robos y crueldades que hicieron estos piratas en mar y tierra hasta llegar a la América.
Danle libertad los piratas y trae a la memoria lo que toleró en su prisión.
Navega Alonso Ramírez y sus compañeros sin saber dónde estaban ni la parte a que iban. Dícense los trabajos y sustos que padecieron hasta varar en tierra.
Sed, hambre, enfermedades, [y] muertes con que fueron atribulados en esta costa. Hallan inopinadamente gente católica y saben estar en tierra firme de Yucatán en la Septentrional América.
Pasan a Tihosuco [y] de allí a Valladolid donde experimentan molestias. Llegan a Mérida. Vuelve Alonso Ramírez a Valladolid y son aquellas [molestias] mayores. Causa por [la] que vino a México y lo que de ello resulta.