Dobrizhoffer, Martin b. September 7, 1717; Friedberg (Bohemia),Austria [Frymburk], or Sept. 7, 1718; Graz d.July 17, 1791;Vienna,Austria
Jesuit and early ethnographer who served in Paraguay.
The birthplace and the date of birth for Martin Dobrizhoffer are not entirely certain. In 1734 Dobrizhoffer joined the Jesuit order and was dispatched as a missionary to Paraguay in 1748.
Here the order had organized a huge, coherent territory, in which the native population of the Guarani could live and work in secure settlements (Reductions) and be protected from the raids of the slave traders. However, the continued existence and protection of these Jesuit settlements was endangered because the prosperous Reductions provoked envy among the European settlers, who desired cheap labor. Dobrizhof- fer arrived in Paraguay at a time when the Jesuit state was already in decline and the Reductions were repeatedly and violently attacked by slave traders. He lived about eighteen years with native tribes in Paraguay. His first assignment was to serve among the Mocobi in San Xavier (north of Santa Fe). From there, he was sent to live with the Abipon in San Hieronymus and later in Concepcion. Last of all, he was ordered to take over the administration of the new Reduction “Zum Heiligen Rosenkranz und St. Karolus” (Holy Rosary and St. Charles) at the Rio Paraguay.The Abipon were a martial people who had recently moved into settlements and allowed themselves to be baptized. Nevertheless, they were continuously involved in warring among themselves and with neighboring tribes (Toba and Mocobi). Do- brizhoffer learned the language and the habits of life of the Abipon; his fundamental work Historia de Abiponibus appeared in 1783-1784 in three volumes in Latin and German and was translated into English in 1822. Contemporaries considered it to be the most important book at the time about Paraguay, the Jesuit state, and the activities of missionaries. Because of his strict factual treatment of the Abipons customs and traditions, Dobrizhoffer paved the way for the ethnological investigation into the cultures and societies of the native tribes in South America. After the rescission of the Jesuit state in 1767, Dobrizhoffer had to leave Paraguay and returned to Austria, where he—after the breakup of the order—was appointed court chaplain by Maria Theresia in 1773.
Heinz Peter Brogiato
See also Argentina; Paraguay
References and Further Reading
Egghardt, Hanne. Osterreicher entdecken die Welt. Forscher, Abenteurer, Idealisten. Vienna: Pichler, 2000, 92-106.
Henze, Dietmar. Enzyklopadie der Entdecker und Erforscher der Erde. Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1983, 2:82-83. Otruba, Gustav. “Dobritzhoffer, Martin.” Neue Deutsche Biographie. Berlin: Duncker andand Humblot, 1959, 4:6-7.