A valuable unpublished work [I]

[with documentary appendix]

Abstract

Horacio Urteaga presents an anonymous document titled "Cuaderno de varias cosas curiosas," (“Notebook about curious matters”), a diary recording events in Lima between 1808 and 1811. The text offers a detailed view of late colonial life, documenting Lima's reaction to the abdication of Carlos IV and the Napoleonic invasion, as well as religious festivities like processions and funerals. Daily events and local crimes are mentioned, providing a social portrait of the period just before the independence. Urteaga highlights the contrast between colonial stagnation and the imminent changes of the republican era.