Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Ternaux, Henry

TERNAUX, Henry (tair-no), better known as Ternaux-Compans, French historian, b. in Paris in 1807; d. there in December, 1864. After finishing his studies in Paris, he entered the diplomatic service and was secretary of the embassies at Madrid and Lisbon, and chargé d'affaires in Brazil, but resigned, and devoted several years to travel through Spain and South America, making researches in the state libraries. Toward the close of Louis Philippe's reign he was elected deputy, but he soon returned to his studies. Ternaux-Compans collected and published a valuable series of works concerning the discovery and early history of South America. They include “ Bibliothèque Americaine, ou catalogue des ouvrages relatifs à l'Amérique depuis sa découverte en 1493, jusqu'en l'an 1700” (Paris, 1836); “Voyages, relations et mémoires originaux pour servir a l'histoire de la découverte de l'Amérique” (10 vols., 1836-'8; 2d series, 10 vols., 1839-'40); “Archives des voyages, ou collection d'anciennes relations inédites” (2 vols., 1840-'1); “Recueil de documents et mémoires originaux sur l'histoire des possessions Espagnoles dans l'Amérique à diverses époques de la conquête” (1840); “Essai sur la théogonie Mexicaine” (1840); “Essai sur l'ancien Cundinamarca” (1862); “Notice historique sur la Guyane Française” (1863); and “Histoire du Mexique par Don Alvaro Tezozomac” (2 vols., 1849).