José Longinos Martínez

José Longinos Martínez was a Spanish naturalist whose account of his travels through Baja California Sur, Baja California, and California in 1792 provided an important early account of the region, its fauna, flora, minerals, and native inhabitants.

Longinos was born in Navarre. Coming to New Spain as part of a government-sponsored botanical expedition, he fell out with his superiors and struck off on his own. He traveled from Cabo San Lucas to Monterey between January and September 1792.

Perhaps because of the rapidity of his journey, his account of the region was sometimes superficial, second-hand, or inaccurate. Nonetheless, it documented substantial otherwise-lost information, particularly on the lifeways of the native peoples.

References

• Longinos Martínez, José. 1961. Journal of José Longinos Martínez: Notes and Observations of the Naturalist of the Botanical Expedition in Old and New California and the South Coast, 1791-1792. Edited by Lesley Byrd Simpson. J. Howell, San Francisco.
• Longinos Martínez, José. 1994. Diario de las expediciones a las Californias de José Longinos Martínez. Edited by Salvador Bernabéu. Doce Calles, Madrid.