Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Klein, Gustav Frederic

KLEIN, Gustav Frederic (kline). German missionary, b. in Mannheim in 1708; d. in Talca, Chili, in November, 1771. He became a Jesuit, and in 1733 was sent to the missions of Uruguay. He was afterward rector of the College of Santiago, dean of the cathedral of Quito, and, after the expulsion of the order in 1767, settled in Talca, where he bought a large estate. Klein devoted most of his time to historical researches, and published “Descripción general de la América Española” (Buenos Ayres, 1737); “Resumen de la historia de Chile” (Santiago, 1744); “Geographia generalis, seu descriptio globi terrarumque” (1749); “Documentos ineditos para la historia de Peru” (3 vols., Quito. 1752); and “Memorias sobre las colonias de España situadas en la costa occidental de América” (5 vols., 1754). He left also several manuscripts, which were forwarded to Rome after his death, and published in the “Bibliotheca nova Scriptorum Societatis Jesu,” including “Cronica del reyno de Chile” (5 vols., Rome, 1789); “Memorias dos estabelecimentos portuguezes na costa do Brazil” (6 vols., 1790); and “Additamentos a's ditas memorias, emque se referem algumas particularedades acerca dos estabelecimentos portuguezes do Brazil” (6 vols, 1792).