author
Thomas Falkner
1707–1784
An English surgeon turned Jesuit missionary, he spent decades in South America and left behind one of the best-known early English accounts of Patagonia. His writing blends travel, observation, and history, making it valuable long after its original era.
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About the author
Born in Manchester in 1707, Thomas Falkner trained in medicine before sailing to South America as a ship's surgeon. After arriving in Buenos Aires in 1730, he remained in the region, converted to Catholicism, and eventually joined the Jesuits.
Falkner spent many years as a missionary in what is now Argentina and the Patagonia region. He became known not only for religious work, but also for his close observation of the land, its animals, and the Indigenous peoples he encountered.
He is best remembered for A Description of Patagonia, and the Adjoining Parts of South America, published in 1774 after his return to England. The book gave English readers a rare picture of southern South America in the eighteenth century, and it is still noted as an important historical travel account.