Julio Caro Baroja, hijo del editor Rafael Caro Raggio y de Carmen Baroja, nace en Madrid el 13 de noviembre de 1914 y fallece el 18 de agosto de 1995. Antropólogo, historiador, lingüista y ensayista era sobrino del novelista Pío Baroja y del pintor Ricardo Baroja. Autor por encargo de su propia Autobiografía vista en tres etapas. Fué discípulo de Telesforo Aranzadi, José María Barandiarán, Hermann Trimborn y Hugo Obermaier, quienes lo encaminaron a la historia y a la etnografía. Doctor en Historia Antigua por la Universidad de Madrid, ejerció como profesor y posteriormente dirigió el Museo del Pueblo Español de Madrid.

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As a child, Julio Caro Baroja was interested in witchcraft. He grew up in an isolated community where people still believed in magic and witchcraft. Before Julio turned twenty he spoke to elderly people, who were convinced that there were "men and women who could change themselves into animals, fly, and do other things that we generally refer to as witchcraft. He once said that his early surroundings were not the only things which stimulated his interest in this subject. He read numerous books on witchcraft, among them the works of Pierre de Lancre.

Julio took a trip to London, where he bought several more books on witchcraft which renewed his interest in the magical arts, that had waned during the Spanish Civil War. He blended his early findings with his recent findings into bring more modern view on the subject. He wrote a book on witchcraft entitled, The World of the Witches, which examined specific groups of people in relation to the world around them. His believed that "The Witches" world, like that of any other social group, changes considerably from one generation to the next. He explained that this book tied social history in with anthropology. He went on to become a Professor at the University of Madrid and later went to the Museum of the Spanish Town of Madrid.

Los pueblos del Sur de la Península

Hace poco he realizado una experiencia que no deja de tener interés desde el punto de vista antropológico. Esta experiencia consiste en examinar los itinerarios de muchos viajeros, que desde el siglo XVII al XIX han venido a España. Muchos viajeros franceses, sobre todo ingleses, y bastantes alemanes. Podríamos decir que examinando estos viajes se enmarca de una manera vigorosa un hecho que ustedes mismos pueden intuir, y es el de la primacía del interés que en los pueblos de Europa ejerce Andalucía.

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