Mortalidad - 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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Map of the cordon sanitaire in Orihuela for the plague of 1676

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

The plague was one of the diseases that most decimated the Spanish population. The XVII century was the worst hit in demographic terms in Orihuela, Alicante: with the plague of 1647-1652 the population was reduced from 12,200 inhabitants to around 7,000. Against this background, the new outbreak recorded in 1676 in the surrounding towns was met with greater sanitary prevention. The city of Orihuela was isolated to avoid contagion and the accumulation of grain and foodstuffs was encouraged in order to deal with the possible epidemic. The danger for this city was in the market gardens, as many farmers crossed the municipal boundaries in the direction of Murcia or Elche to illegally supply produce. Faced with the danger of them becoming infected and returning with the disease, the Board of Health ordered quarantines to be imposed on those people who had been in areas at risk. Finally, a more effective cordon sanitaire was imposed, with 4 lines, linking Orihuela with Alicante: the first 2 lines were intended to isolate the outbreaks in Murcia and Cartagena, passing through the Segura River, the third line isolated the municipality of Elche, while the fourth was aimed at cutting off the outbreaks coming from La Mancha. Between the 19 leagues of the cordon sanitaire, 56 surveillance posts were set up with more than 100 operatives and men on horseback, who were permanently patrolling the containment lines.

The post Map of the cordon sanitaire in Orihuela for the plague of 1676 first appeared on History Lab.

The plague of 1649 in Seville

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

During the Modern Age, numerous epidemics struck Spanish and European populations. The painting shown here, by an anonymous artist, depicts the plague in Seville in 1649. The work focuses on the Hospital de la Sangre and the Macarena Gate, a perspective of the area outside the city walls that shows the tragedy. The Junta de Salud (Board of Health) established this area as a place of transfer for care or a burial site, as was the Prado de San Sebastián or Triana. The painting also shows a procession on the left, while the central area is dominated by the transport of the sick. On the right is a greater concentration of corpses. Due to the high number of contagions and the high mortality rate, it is estimated that this outbreak of plague, the last and most virulent, claimed the lives of 60,000 people in Seville, almost 45% of the city’s population.

The post The plague of 1649 in Seville first appeared on History Lab.

The plague of 1679 in Antequera, Málaga

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

The plague, one of the greatest threats to public health, struck Antequera in 1679. After the strong impact it had on the city of Seville, reflected in an anonymous painting dated 1649, the city of Malaga followed the same fate. The painting, an anonymous oil painting dated 1723, depicts the religious nature of these episodes: the Virgin of the Rosary appears in the upper left-hand band as part of the religious programme. On the right is a rainbow, symbol of God’s mercy, above a pious procession. Below, the city, under a rain of arrows representing the plague, the action unfolds. The dead are piled into mass graves while objects and personal belongings are burnt. The living are assisted by doctors and surgeons, who perform precarious medicinal work for healing (bloodletting, draining buboes, gauzing with ointments or cauterising wounds with hot irons). In short, the author depicted the tragedy of the plague, its social implications and its connection with the religious mentality.

The post The plague of 1679 in Antequera, Málaga first appeared on History Lab.

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.

Smallpox mortality in New Spain. The parish of San Pablo Apetatitlan, 1797-1798

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:48 +0000

During the Modern Age, smallpox was an epidemic that decimated numerous populations on the European continent. America’s joining the world-system meant that this territory also became involved in global problems. The resource shows the incidence in New Spain of the last smallpox epidemic of the 18th century in that viceroyalty through the parish of San Pablo Apetatitlan, in the governorate of Tlaxcala. In this rural parish, between December 1797 and December 1798, a total of 75 deaths from smallpox were recorded, most of them indigenous people from this rural area. The author places the epidemic cycle in October 1797 in the city of Puebla, arriving in the jurisdiction of Tlaxcala in the first week of December. Its arrival led to a dramatic increase in mortality in the first few days of its appearance; 91.42% of deaths from the disease were recorded in one month. After the strong impact, social isolation and quarantines were the measures adopted by the authorities.

The post Smallpox mortality in New Spain. The parish of San Pablo Apetatitlan, 1797-1798 first appeared on History Lab.

Progressive mortality (%) of foundlings in La Laguna (Tenerife) during the first years of life, 1752-1780

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:41 +0000

The high mortality rate of foundlings recorded in 18th century Tenerife at the Casa de la Cuna de La Laguna was not so much due to the poor physical conditions in which they arrived at the institution as to the fragility and continuing economic hardship. These determined, for example, the absence of internal milkmaids, which meant that the children had to wait for one or more days until they were handed over to the external milkmaids. On the other hand, the mere exchange of the administrator resulted in the emergence of internal problems in the functioning of the incluse, such as the under-recording of infant mortality. The institution’s economic and administrative fragility must have been external, with a strong impact on the chances of survival of the children in its care.

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Choleric Mortality in Andalusia, 1833-35

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:41 +0000

The first Asian cholera pandemic entered the Iberian Peninsula in 1833 via Portugal. In Andalusia, cholera persisted for 16 months, between August 1833 and January 1835. The traditional account of the epidemic, which limited the presence of cholera to western Andalusia in 1833, blamed the exacerbation in the summer of 1834 on the march of an army corps from Portugal. The epidemic spread during the autumn of 1833 from the western provinces to the eastern provinces by means of maritime traffic. The prolonged presence of the disease occurred in the midst of a complicated political situation: the reform of the absolutist regime after the death of Ferdinand VII and the beginning of the first Carlist war. In Andalusia, the first barriers – sea and land – were applied between 18 and 24 August 1831 in response to the news that Gibraltar was suffering from a suspicious disease, leading to the closure of the border with the Portuguese country in February 1833. The upsurge of the pandemic led to the second “cordon sanitaire” formed by troops, until it was lifted in August. Preventive policy, however, moved away from quarantines and cordons to focus on urban sanitation measures and aid for the sick. The majority of the series of sick and dead cases, with modifications, meet the typical conditions of Holomantic outbreaks: a rapid rise in the number of cases, a more prolonged maintenance of an uneven pattern, and a somewhat slower decline. The persistence of the disease in parts of eastern Andalusia during the winter and spring of 1834 gave the presentation of this choleric epidemic its peculiar west-east-west development. In western points, such as Cadiz and Seville, the epidemic occurred on two occasions, but sufficiently separated in time and with no evidence of this insidious interregnum.

The post Choleric Mortality in Andalusia, 1833-35 first appeared on History Lab.

Evolution of the price of a bushel of wheat in Spain 1700-1714

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:41 +0000

Cuenca represented the living image of the crisis of the 17th century in which its population, productive activity and wealth had declined enormously. At the same time, at the end of the century, a slight recovery could be glimpsed among its neighbours and the recovery of Cuenca’s flourishing textile industry of the past. However, the impact of the subsistence crises during the modern period caused by natural phenomena with their consequences on prices, mortality or marriage rates, tried to be attenuated by the interventions of the municipal administration. In October 1709, the lack of wheat became evident, making it necessary to resort to the Cathedral Chapter so that its members could deliver grain for the supply. The Council of Castile revealed how some councillors did not comply with the grain pragmatic order, selling wheat at 38 reales per bushel. In other places, such as Sanlúcar de Barrameda, the price of a bushel of wheat reached 120 reales and bread 47 cuartos, making it impossible for the average worker to buy it on a daily wage of 5 or 6 reales. The rise in the price of wheat hit Cuenca and Murcia particularly hard in 1709, while in towns in the north of Castile such as Burgo de Osma the price rose to a lesser extent. In the southern half of the peninsula, in Jaén, the price began to stabilise around 1708, as from 1709 the maximum price per bushel was set at 28 reales.

The post Evolution of the price of a bushel of wheat in Spain 1700-1714 first appeared on History Lab.

Seasonality of foundling mortality in Tenerife, 1752-1794

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:41 +0000

The behaviour of the mortality of foundlings in Tenerife was conditioned by the passing of the seasons, as during the harshest months of the year, in winter and summer, temperatures reached their extremes on the island and a higher mortality of abandoned children was recorded. Accordingly, in January there was an increase in the number of deaths due to respiratory illnesses (colds and flus), aggravated by the poor condition in which the children arrived at the centre after their journey. In spring, on the other hand, there was a slight decrease in mortality, favoured by the improvement in temperatures where conditions between abandonment and transfer to the crèche were more favourable. However, particularly in July, the number of deaths increased due to infectious diseases and the harshness of the conditions in which remission took place. After the summer heat, in autumn and at the beginning of winter, the number of deaths stabilised. At this level, and in relation to the particularities of the island’s economic and social life, parallels can be found with the situation experienced in Salamanca, London and Florence.

The post Seasonality of foundling mortality in Tenerife, 1752-1794 first appeared on History Lab.