Martín del Barco Centenera (1535 – c. 1602) was a Spanish cleric, explorer and author.
Born 1535 at Logrosán, in the Diocese of Plasencia in Extremadura region (Spain); died c. 1602.
[1] He returned to Europe, where he finished his poetical work, known as "La Argentina", which he dedicated to the Viceroy of Portugal (for the Habsburg king Philip III of Spain).
He describes nearly a quarter of a century of Spanish efforts in Argentina and adjacent countries, of which he was mostly an eyewitness, and thus fills a considerable blank in our knowledge of the history of that period, otherwise but little known.
[1] He also alludes to the English piracies committed by Francis Drake and Thomas Cavendish, and to events of importance in Peru during the administration of the Viceroy Toledo.