2002, Number 4
Rev Biomed 2002; 13 (4)
Megadrought and Megadeath in 16th Century Mexico
Acuna-Soto R, Stahle DW, Cleaveland MK, Therrell MD
Language: English
References: 11
Page: 289-292
PDF size: 31.65 Kb.
ABSTRACT
The native population collapse in 16th century Mexico was a demographic catastrophe with one of the highest death rates in history. Recently developed tree-ring evidence has allowed the levels of precipitation to be reconstructed for north central Mexico, adding to the growing body of epidemiologic evidence and indicating that the 1545 and 1576 epidemics of
cocoliztli (Nahuatl for "pest") were indigenous hemorrhagic fevers transmitted by rodent hosts and aggravated by extreme drought conditions.
REFERENCES
Cook SF, Simpson LB. The Population of Central Mexico in the Sixteenth Century. Ibero Americana Vol. 31, Berkeley: University of California Press; 1948.
Gerhard P. A guide to the historical geography of New Spain. Norman (OK): University of Oklahoma Press; 1993.
Hugh T. Conquest, Montezuma, Cortez, and the Fall of Old Mexico. New York: Simon and Schuster; 1993.
Acuna-Soto R, Caderon Romero L, Maguire JH. Large epidemics of hemorrhagic fevers in Mexico 1545-1815. Am J Trop Med Hyg 2000;62:733-9.
Marr JS, Kiracofe JB. Was the Huey Cocoliztli a haemorrhagic fever? Med Hist, 2000;44:341-62.
Stahle DW, Cleaveland MK, Therrell MD, Villanueva-Diaz J. Tree-ring reconstruction of winter and summer precipitation in Durango, Mexico, for the past 600 years. 10th Symposium Global Change Studies. Boston: American Meteorological Society, 1999; p. 317-8.
Stahle DW, Cook ER, Cleaveland MK, Therrell MD, Meko DM, Grissino-Mayer HD, et al. Tree-ring data document 16th century megadrought over North America. Eos 2000;81:121-5.
Schmaljohn C, Hjelle B. Hantaviruses: a global disease problem. Emerg Infect Dis 1997;3:95-104.
Hjelle B. Glass GE. Outbreak of hantavirus infection in the Four Corners region of the United States in the wake of the 1997-1998 El Nino-Southern Oscillation. J Infect Dis 2000;181:1569-73.
Malvido E. Cronologia de las epidemias y crisis agricolas de la epoca colonial. Historia Mexicana 1973;89:96-101.
Peters CJ. Hemorrhagic fevers: How they wax and wane. In: Scheld WM, Armstong D, Hughes JM, editors. Emerging infections. Washington (DC): American Society for Microbiology, 1998; p. 15-25.
Full text