LOBO, Martin, Mexican clergyman, born in Mexico about 1580; died in Trujillo, Central America, in 1642. He entered the order of St. Francis, and early in the 17th century was sent as superior to the convent of Guatemala, where he followed his favorite study of mathematics, and soon acquired fame as a cosmographer and hydraulic engineer.  

LOBO, Martin, Mexican clergyman, born in Mexico about 1580; died in Trujillo, Central America, in 1642. He entered the order of St. Francis, and early in the 17th century was sent as superior to the convent of Guatemala, where he followed his favorite study of mathematics, and soon acquired fame as a cosmographer and hydraulic engineer. The provincial of his order, believing that Lobo's projects were worthy of consideration by the home government, obtained the election of Lobo in 1641 as delegate of the order to the general council in Rome to give him an opportunity to explain his plans in Madrid. Lobo set out for the Atlantic coast of Honduras to await an opportunity for sailing, but died of fever in the convent of Trujillo. His manuscripts were sent to Spain, and, although Father Vasquez in his "Cronica" says that he has seen them, they are lost or hidden in the government archives in Spain. They are "Arbitrios para que en el Reino de Guatemala se cojan todos los frutos, yerbas y plantas de Europa y todo el Mundo," an essay favoring the acclimatization of foreign plants in Central America, and "Medios y modo de juntar el Mar del Norte con el del Sur, para el paso de los Galeones de Espafia hasta el Callao de Lima, sin necesidad de buscar el Estrecho de Magallanes," probably the first work describing the project of an interoceanic canal. Although neither the author nor Father Vasquez mentions the location of the projected canal, it is probable that the Nicaragua route was proposed, as the author had travelled there for many years and made observations. Some believe that Lobo's work is identical with a manuscript that has been found in the National library of Mexico, without name or exact date, which treats of a projected canal between the rivers Coatzacoalcos and Tehuantepec.

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Samuel Huntington
First President of the United States of America
in Congress Assembled
March 1, 1781 to July 6, 1781

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