A historical and descriptive narrative of twenty years' residence in South America
A British citizen, Stevenson travelled to Chile in 1803 where he was arrested due to ongoing conflicts between Spain and Great Britain. His imprisonment eventually ended and he joined with the Royal Spanish government in Ecuador by serving as the secretary to the President of Quito. He served in this role until the beginning of the Ecuadorian War of Independence in 1809, when he sided with the revolutionaries and became Governor of the Ecuadorian city of Esmeraldas. He would later serve as secretary to the British naval officer Lord Cochrane, who led the Chilean revolutionary navy against Spain as Vice Admiral. Stevenson published this narrative upon his return to England in 1824, where it became a popular resource on the history of Spanish American wars of independence.
William Bennet Stevenson (1787?- ).
A Historical and Descriptive Narrative of Twenty Years' Residence in South America, Containing the Travels in Arauco, Chile, Peru, and Colombia; with an Account of the Revolution…London: Hurst, Robinson & Co., 1825.
Lehigh University Catalog Record:https://asa.lib.lehigh.edu/asa/Record/261415
A version of this text has been digitized and is available through the Internet Archive.