Juan Friede | |
---|---|
Born |
Wlava, ![]() |
February 17, 1901
Died | June 28, 1990 Bogotá, ![]() |
(aged 89)
Other names | Juan Friede Alter |
Nationality | Ukrainian, Colombian |
Fields | Anthropology, history |
Institutions | Universidad Nacional de Colombia |
Education | Economical and Social Sciences |
Alma mater |
Hochschule für Welthandel, Vienna London School of Economics |
Known for | Studies of Muisca, San Agustín, indigenous peoples of Colombia, Spanish conquest, history of Colombia |
Influenced | José Eduardo Rueda Enciso (student, friend and biographer) Jaime Jaramillo Uribe |
Children | three |
Juan Friede Alter (Wlava, Russian Empire, 17 February 1901 - Bogotá, Colombia, 28 June 1990) was a Ukrainian-Colombian historian of Jewish descent who is recognised as one of the most important writers about Colombian history, the Spanish conquests and a proponent of indigenism; the defence of the rights and descriptions of the oppression of indigenous people.
Juan Friede went to Colombia in 1926 for business and his fascination for the country, its climate and culture made him emigrate. He became a Colombian citizen in 1930. During the 1940s, Friede made extensive studies about various indigenous peoples in the country. He was a professor at the newly founded Department of Social Sciences of the National University of Colombia and is considered one of the pioneers of the "New History" movement in Colombia, together with Jaime Jaramillo Uribe, Luis Eduardo Nieto Arteta and Luis Ospina Vásquez. His former house in San Agustín since 2006 bears the name Casa Museo Juan Friede.
Juan Friede Alter was born in a village called Wlava, indicated as Ukrainian or Polish, close to the border with Germany, part of the Russian Empire on February 17, 1901 in a Jewish family. Friede went to school in Moscow in the turbulent years of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The new regime drove the family to Germany and Friede studied Economical and Social Sciences at the Hochschule für Welthandel in Vienna, graduating in 1922. The environment of Vienna of the 1920s influenced Friede positively and he was a member of an anarcho-ecological society called Vanderfliegel. After his studies in Vienna, he continued his research at the newly founded London School of Economics. In 1923, Friede started working for the import-export firm J. Stern & Co. The firm sent Friede to Colombia in 1926.