20 Facts About Ricardo Palma

Manuel Ricardo Palma Soriano was a Peruvian author, scholar, librarian and politician.

However, the documentary evidence shows many contradictions that was pointed out by Monsignor Salvador Herrera Pinto who relying on oral traditions collected and written testimonies directed to him concludes that Ricardo Palma was born in the town of Talavera, province of Andahuaylas, Apurimac Region.

Ricardo Palma's family was living in Lima after migrating from the province.

Ricardo Palma was educated at a Jesuit school and attended the University of San Carlos on an irregular basis.

Ricardo Palma suspended his studies to perform voluntary service in the Peruvian navy for six years.

Ricardo Palma held the positions of Consul of Peru in Para, Brazil, Senator for the Loreto and official in the Ministry of War and Navy.

Ricardo Palma successfully took on the task of rebuilding the National Library that was ransacked by the occupation forces of the Chilean Army in 1881 following the battle of Lima during the War of the Pacific.

Ricardo Palma was able to bring the National Library back from the ashes so that it regained its previous stature and became recognized as one of the top libraries in South America.

Ricardo Palma's daughter Angelica Palma was a writer and a member of the early feminist movement in Peru.

Ricardo Palma published his first verses and became the editor of a political and satiric newssheet called El Diablo at 15.

Ricardo Palma gained an early reputation as a historian with his book on the activities of the Spanish Inquisition during the period of the Viceroyalty of Peru.

Ricardo Palma wrote for the satirical press of Peru where he distinguished himself as a prolific columnist and one of the bastions of Peruvian political satire in the nineteenth century.

Ricardo Palma collaborated with the satirical sheet El Burro and became later one of the principal contributors to the satirical magazine La Campana.

Ricardo Palma was a regular contributor to serious publications such as El Mercurio, El Correo, La Patria, El Liberal, Revista del Pacifico and Revista de Sud America.

Ricardo Palma was further active as a foreign newspaper correspondent during the War of the Pacific.

The Tradiciones peruanas do not meet formal historical standards of accuracy or reliability sufficiently to be considered "history," but Ricardo Palma never intended them to be read as "pure" history.

Ricardo Palma was a noted linguistic scholar and wrote a number of works on the subject including the Neologismos y americanismos and Papeletas lexograficas.

Ricardo Palma campaigned for recognition by the Real Academia Espanola of the Latin-American and Peruvian contributions to the Spanish language.

In 1999, a well-known London auction house announced the sale of a batch of 50 letters that Ricardo Palma had written to an Argentinian friend.

Ricardo Palma University has recently published the letters of Palma in three volumes.