Luis de Carvajal the Younger, Marrano writer and martyr (born c. 1566/1567)

Luis de Carvajal the Younger was a Spanish-born Crypto-Jewish writer. He was the nephew of the conquistador Luis de Carvajal y de la Cueva, who was the governor of New Mexico, and was brought to Mexico at a young age. In Mexico, he began to practice Judaism in secret alongside his family, and additionally kept memoirs of his life. His writings are the earliest known to be written by a Jew in the Americas. He was executed as a martyr of the Jewish faith by the Spanish Inquisition in 1596.

Marranos is a term for Spanish and Portuguese Jews, as well as Navarrese Jews, who converted to Christianity, either voluntarily or by Spanish or Portuguese royal coercion, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but who continued to practice Judaism in secrecy or were suspected of it. They are also called crypto-Jews, the term increasingly preferred in scholarly works over Marranos.

December 8 is the 342nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 23 days remain until the end of the year.