José Domingo Duquesne was born on February 23, 1748, in Bogotá, then the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Granada. His parents were Frenchman Juan Francisco Duquesne, originally from Montpellier, and Clara Ignacia de la Madrid, from Bogotá.[1] He attended the Colegio Mayor y Seminario de San Bartolomé graduating in 1774 in canon law and theology. Remarkable for his day and studies, during his dissertation on philosophy Duquesne treated the natural sciences.[1]
From 1775 to 1795 Duquesne was assigned to the indigenous villages Lenguazaque and Gachancipá and studied Muysccubun, the language of the Muisca. This was the first recorded study of the almost extinct language as education in the language was forbidden by the authorities of the Spanish Empire in 1577 and in 1638 the last bilingual school was closed.[1] After ten years of service in Lenguazaque, as of July 13, 1785, Duquesne was working in the parrochy of the church in Gachancipá.[2][3]
In 1795 Duquesne published his work Disertación sobre el calendario de los muyscas, indios naturales de este Nuevo Reino de Granada ("Dissertation about the calendar of the Muyscas [sic], native indians of this New Kingdom of Granada"). In this work he unraveled the complex lunisolarMuisca calendar. José Celestino Mutis handed Duquesne's work over to the famous natural scientist Alexander von Humboldt who visited the Colombian territories in 1801.[1]
