Henri Ternaux-Compans was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

.

Biography

After finishing his studies in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, he entered the diplomatic service and was secretary of the embassies at Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

 and Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

, and chargé d'affaires

Chargé d'affaires

In diplomacy, chargé d’affaires , often shortened to simply chargé, is the title of two classes of diplomatic agents who head a diplomatic mission, either on a temporary basis or when no more senior diplomat has been accredited.-Chargés d’affaires:Chargés d’affaires , who were...

 in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, but resigned, and devoted several years to travel through Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 and South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, doing research in the state libraries. Toward the close of Louis Philippe

Louis Philippe

Louis Philippe may refer to:*Louis-Philippe I, King of the French, last King of France*Prince Philippe, Count of Paris, called King Louis Philippe II by some factions*Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans*Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans...

's reign he was elected a deputy, but he soon returned to his studies.

Works

Ternaux-Compans collected and published a valuable series of works concerning the discovery and early history of South America. They include:

• Bibliothèque Americaine, ou catalogue des ouvrages relatifs à l'Amérique depuis sa découverte en 1493, jusqu'en l'an 1700 (Paris, 1836)
• Voyages, relations et mémoires originaux pour servir a l'histoire de la découverte de l'Amérique (10 vols., 1836-'8; 2d series, 10 vols., 1839-40)
• Archives des voyages, ou collection d'anciennes relations inédites (2 vols., 1840-41)
• Recueil de documents et mémoires originaux sur l'histoire des possessions Espagnoles dans l'Amérique à diverses époques de la conquête (1840)
• Essai sur la théogonie Mexicaine (1840)
• Essai sur l'ancien Cundinamarca (1862)
• Notice historique sur la Guyane Française (1863)
• Histoire du Mexique par Don Alvaro Tezozomac (2 vols., 1849)