BARROS, biter6s. ARANA DIEGO (1830-1. A Chilean historian, born at Santiago. Ile was forced by ill-health, in 1849. to abandon the prac tice of the law, for which he had been prepared. gave himself up to historical studies, and became known as an authority on the history of his country. He was a constant traveler, and col lected information from all possible sources on his favorite subject. In 1863 he was made rec tor of the histituto Nacional. Among his publi cations are Estudios historicos sobre Vicente Benarides y he campailas del sur 1818-21 (San tiago, 1850) ; Historia de la independencia de Chile ; Historia de la literature (1870); Histoire de lc guerre du Pacifique (Paris, 1881, written by order of the Govern ment) ; and Historic general de Chile (12 vols., Santiago, 1884-93).
BARROS,JoAo DE (1496-1570). One of the most important of the early Portuguese his torians, for both his conscientious use of original sources and the excellence of his style. He was born at Vizeu and became page to the Crown Prince (afterwards John Ill.), for whose amuse ment he wrote his three-volume romance, Growl cc do Emperador Clarimundo (Coimbra, 15201.
After the accession of King John Ill., Barros was appointed successively captain of the for tress Silo Jorge de Mina, Governor of the Portu guese possessions in Guinea, and in 1533 treas urer and general agent for Portuguese India. in 1539 he received from the King a grant of a province in Brazil, but an attempt to colonize it proved so ruinous that lie was glad to return the grant. He died in 1570. Barros's chief work was his Decades, a history of Portuguese India, written in fulfillment of a royal commission. The first 'decade' was the product of nine years' labor, and appeared in 1552: the second fol lowed shortly after; the third, not until ten years later; while the fourth remained unfinished at his death and was brought out a whole genera tion afterwards by his successor, Diogo do Couto, who added eight more volumes. A complete edi tion appeared at Lisbon in 24 vols. (1778•88), Consult Mamie] Severin de Faria, l'idc do Joao de Burros (Lisbon, 1624).