Cartografía - History Lab

The plague in the Kingdom of Cordoba in the 17th century

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:18 +0000

The Kingdom of Cordoba was one of the territories involved in the great plague epidemics that devastated the Iberian Peninsula during the 17th century. The resource lists the localities affected, using the 1761 map drawn up by Tomás López. In red are the epidemic outbreaks that occurred in the two-year period 1649-1650. Originating in the ports of Cadiz and the cities of Seville, Malaga, Antequera and Murcia, the epidemic reached the city of Cordoba with virulence and affected the municipalities located in the north of the kingdom and some areas in the south. Years later, and represented in blue dots, another plague epidemic broke out, which had a greater incidence in the south and, once again, in the city of Cordoba itself. How did the kingdom’s authorities deal with the epidemics? Isolation and the closure of communications were the best way to prevent the plague from spreading further; however, the absence of a centralised entity to control and delimit the vast territories resulted in the permeability of municipal borders. At the local level, the Board of Health decreed the measures to be implemented: food stockpiling, closure of trade, limitation of foreign trade and promotion of hygiene were the most widespread formulas.

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Epidemics of plague in Spain: 16th and 17th centuries

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:12 +0000

The plague epidemic had an early manifestation in Spain. There is evidence of outbreaks of plague along the Mediterranean strip of the peninsula as early as the 6th-8th centuries. During the 14th century, the Black Death appeared in Europe, an epidemic which, interspersed with others such as influenza and typhus, reappeared in the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1596 the plague reached the peninsula via Santander, a port area. It spread virulently through the territories of Extremadura and the two Castiles, especially the area around Madrid. The Cantabrian coast and Andalusia were also affected, as well as the area between Alicante and Valencia. It was in the latter city that another plague epidemic broke out years later, in 1647. From Valencia it spread to the northern part of the Crown of Aragon: Catalonia and the Aragonese territories themselves were affected. Andalusia was also hit again, with the city of Seville suffering significant human losses, where it is estimated that 45% of the population died. It was in Seville that another epidemic appeared in 1676. With no time to recover, cities such as Seville, Cordoba, Malaga, Cadiz and Jaen were the protagonists of the horror. They were joined by Cartagena, in the Kingdom of Murcia. These were the last large-scale epidemics to occur in the peninsular territories of the Hispanic Monarchy. Once the epidemic, demographic and food crises of the 17th century were overcome, the 18th century ushered in a period of generalised growth.

The post Epidemics of plague in Spain: 16th and 17th centuries first appeared on History Lab.

Plan of the city of Almeria in 1709

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:31:41 +0000

The Provincial Archive of Almería contains an excellent collection of maps and cartographic documentation. In this case, we are looking at a map of the city of Almería drawn by the Marquis of Canales (1709). In it we can perfectly appreciate elements such as the city wall, the Alcazaba, the network of narrow streets and, curiously, a fortress is drawn, with artillery, which must have disappeared at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession.

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Pleyades Virtual Library

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:27:41 +0000

This website provides a wealth of material concerning the conception of the World through Cosmography and Geography. Numerous maps and cartographic materials provide a historical overview of the evolution of the discipline, which reached its peak during the Renaissance period. Likewise, we find a large number of authors of different nationalities, with works that explore a great diversity of territories, ranging from a global perspective to the most regional level. Thus, we can find atlases that deal with the extent of the seas and oceans, maps that circumscribe a particular region, world maps or sea charts belonging to a voyage of exploration. Access to the materials is fast and versatile, and the illustrations are presented with a high quality of both image and detail.

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Cervantes and 17th century Madrid

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:27:35 +0000

Interactive viewer which, based on Pedro Texeira’s map of 1656 – the most detailed, meticulous and extensive of its time – allows you to explore the Madrid of the 17th century, where Miguel de Cervantes and other characters of the Golden Age lived. It is a map with different layers of information superimposed on the current map of Madrid, with different options (white background, street map, image), with the possibility of marking areas and points of interest, obtaining images or locating the houses of characters of the period (Cervantes, Velázquez, Lope de Vega, Góngora, Calderón de la Barca, Quevedo, Tirso de Molina…). Also parishes, convents, hospitals, fountains, parks, streets, squares, orchards and landscapes, city gates, the Royal Palace and other buildings of the nobility (Duke of Osuna, Maqueda, Pastrana…), among other information. By clicking on it, for each of the points indicated, a brief description of the place, the building, the spot, the personage, etc. is given, as well as a list of the references or bibliography from which this information has been obtained.

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