Apuntaciones sobre los orígenes de Medellin

Alberto Bernal Nicholls’ volume represents a weak entry into Antioqueño history, a field already heavily frequented by amateur historians of varying perceptiveness. The author, an elderly medical doctor, is concerned primarily with establishing that Medellín was founded officially on November 2, 1675, and not on March 20, 1671, or March 2, 1616. In a few paragraphs, the author clearly establishes that Medellín and a nearby settlement, San Lorenzo de Aburrá (1616), were quite distinct. But this is hardly new. Indeed, Bernal Nicholls himself rather quixotically reprints an article entitled: “Don Francisco Montoya y Salazar, fundador de Medellín,” written by Father Juan Manuel Pacheco and published in March 1958 in the Boletín de Historia y Antigüedades de la Academia Colombiana de Historia. This article proves, on the basis of ample archival documentation, that Medellín’s definitive establishment occurred on November 2, 1675, and that Medellín was not San Lorenzo. This renders Bernal Nicholls’ efforts quite superfluous.