First Dictionary Printed in the Americas

Exploring the Early Americas The Jay I. Kislak Collection

Pre-Contact America | Explorations and Encounters | Aftermath of the Encounter

Languages and Religion | Competition for Empire | Documenting New Knowledge

First Dictionary Printed in the Americas (99)

Alonso de Molina (d. 1585).
Vocabulario en lengua castellana y Mexicana [Vocabulary in the Castilian and Mexican languages].
Mexico, 1571
Jay I. Kislak Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (99)

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Alonso Molina was one of twelve missionaries to arrive in Mexico immediately after the conquest. His Vocabulario was the first dictionary printed in the New World and the first systematic analysis of an indigenous American language. Missionaries learned indigenous languages to communicate better with the native peoples whom they were trying to convert. Much of the information scholars have today about pre-contact life comes from these priestly efforts.