Chinchon, Ana, Countess of (1576–1639)
Chinchon, Ana, countess of (1576–1639)
Spanish countess who gave the world a quinine called Cinchona. Born at Astorga, Castile, in 1576; died at Cartagena, Columbia, in December 1639; daughter of the 8th marquis of Astorga; married Luis de Velasco, marquis of Salinas (died); married Luis Geronymo de Cabrera, count of Chinchon (viceroy of Peru).
Ana, countess of Chinchon, was born in Castile in 1576, the daughter of the 8th marquis of Astorga. She married Luis de Velasco, marquis of Salinas, twice viceroy of Mexico and once of Peru. After his death, she married Luis Geronymo de Cabrera, count of Chinchon, who was appointed viceroy of Peru in 1629. During her second residence in Lima, the countess was attacked with a tertian ague (a form of fever occurring every other day) and was cured by some powdered Peruvian bark that had been sent to her physician by the corregidor (chief magistrate) of Loxa, Juan Lopez de Canizares. When the countess set sail for Spain, she carried a quantity of the bark with her. Though she died on the voyage at Cartegena in December 1639, it was through her cure that the medicinal cinchona bark was first introduced into Europe. In honor of her, Linnaeus named the genus of quinine-bearing plants Cinchona, though it should have been written Chinchona.