Sigüenza y Góngora, Carlos de

Sigüenza y Góngora, Carlos de (kär`lōs thā sēgwān`sä ē gōng`gōrä), 1645–1700, Mexican writer and humanist. The foremost intellectual figure of colonial Mexico, he wrote on mathematics, astronomy, history, geography, and other fields. His works include Manifiesto filosófico contra los cometas [philosophical treatise against comets] (1680) and Infortunios de Alonso Ramírez (1690; tr. The Misadventures of Alonso Ramírez, 1962), a forerunner of the novel in Latin America.