Henry Harrisse

The early Spanish and Portuguese computations of the Tordesillas Meridian, according to Harrisse.

Henry Harrisse (May 28, 1829 – May 13, 1910) was a writer, lawyer, art critic, and American historian who authored books on the discovery of America and geographic representations of the New World.

Biography Henry Harrisse was born Henry Herrisse in Paris on May 28, 1829. His father was Abraham Herrisse, a furrier, probably from Russia or Prague, and his mother was Nanine Marcus of Paris. At the age of eighteen, he moved to America with his family and adopted American nationality, where he studied at the University of South Carolina. He began his academic career at the University of North Carolina, where he taught writing, philosophy, and law, though he was later released from his position due to his support of abolitionism. In following years, he worked as a lawyer in Chicago and New York, before beginning his writing career. According to his biographer Henri Cordier, his early writings are devoted to Hippolyte Taine and Renan, and the analysis of the metaphysical works of Descartes. Later in his life, he moved back to Paris