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This is the manuscript of the first part of the Historia de la Villa Imperial de Potosí de Bartolomé Arzáns de Orsúa y Vela. The complete edition of this work was in charge of Lewis Hanke and Gunnar Mendoza (Providence, R.I.: Brown University Press, 1965). The work of Arzans de Orsúa y Vela has been and still is a source of information for all the researchers of Alto Peru, but very few times has been studied in its real dimension. The manuscript kept by the Brown University (USA) lets us understand the royal dimension of the Imperial Villa de Potosí through the description and narration of its history.

Interior cover

Detail of the interior cover

On the inside cover of the manuscript that opens the First Book, a globe where the Viceroyalty of Peru represents the whole South America is included, highlighting the existence of the Villa Imperial de Potosí. The Viceroyalty of Nueva España is also represented.Thanks to the Brown Digital Repository one can access to the manuscript whose folios can be consulted with an excellent resolution. The work of Bartolomé Arzáns de Orsúa y Vela has vast information about trade, government of the different corregidores, feasts and imperial celebration descriptions.