José de Viera y Clavijo

José de Viera y Clavijo (28 December 1731 – 21 February 1813), was a Spanish, of Portuguese descent, Enlightenment ecclesiastic, poet, historian, botanist, ethnographer, and professor. He is best known for his exhaustive History of the Canary Islands (Historia de Canarias), which took 20 years of work. He was assisted by Fernando de Molina Quesada, José Vandewalle, and others. The first volume was published in 1773, the second in 1774, the third in 1775, and the fourth in 1781. He recognized the Canaries as belonging to Africa and was a proponent of atlantonationalism. He investigated the influence of maritime activities in the Atlantic Ocean on the development of the islands. In this pursuit he also covered sailors such as Blas Zabala y Moreno, Francisco Díaz Pimienta, José Fernández Romero, , and . He was an admirer of Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro and Voltaire, having been considered by scholarship after his time the "spiritual son" of the former.

Biography Viera was born in Realejo Alto, on the island of Tenerife, and was baptized at the Parroquia Matriz del Apóstol Santiago. He was the son of notary and town mayor, Gabriel Álamo y Viera and his wife Antonia María Clavijo. As a child, his family moved to La Orotava, where he was educated in scholastic theology at the convent of Santo Domingo. As stated in his memoir, it was here he grew fond of Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro's work. At 18 years old, he received his minor orders in La Laguna; at 24 he got a preaching license; at 25 he entered major orders as a priest in Las Palmas.

In 1756, he began service as a priest at Los Remedios Church in La Laguna,

In 1783, he returned to the Las Palmas Cathedral as archdeacon, never leaving the island afterwards and dying on 21 February 1813 in the city. His remains were put in the cathedral. He is commemorated in the name of the Jardín Botánico Canario Viera y Clavijo.

Works Vida del noticioso Jorge Sargo, 1745 Papel Hebdomadario, 1758 and 1759 Memoriales del Síndico Personero, 1764 Gacetas de Daute, 1765 Carta filosófica sobre la Aurora boreal, 1770 Historia de Canarias (4 volumes), 1773, 1774, 1775, and 1781 El segundo Agatócles Cortés en la Nueva España, 1778 Elogio de Felipe V, 1779 Elogio de Don Alonso el Pintado, 1782 El Hyerotheo, o Tratado Histórico de los antiguos honores y derechos del Presbiterio, 1799 Diccionario de Historia natural de las Islas Canarias, 1799 Noticias de la Tierra, 1807 Noticias del cielo, 1811 Los Vasconautas, undated Tragedia de Santa Genoveva, undated