Historical Review: Megadrought And Megadeath In 16th Century Mexico (Hemorrhagic Fever)

CDC ^ | March 28, 2002 | R. Acuna-Soto, D. Stahle, M. Cleaveland and M. Therrell

[blam]

Click on the site for a larger version of the charts included in this article.

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[blam]

[massgopguy]

Who knew Dave Mustaine spoke Spanish?

[blam]

[MinstrelBoy]

Megadrought: the new Hollywood disaster move coming to a theater near you.

[blam]

[pabianice]

Global Warming!

[Onelifetogive]

How is this Bush's fault?

[AppyPappy]

How do they know all this stuff?

[Little Bill]

Sounds like a new plague type disease, see McNeil "Plagues and People." The high mortality rate leads me to think that this was a new plague introduced into a virgin population.

[MillerCreek]

"...infections appear to have been aggravated by...the poor living conditions and harsh treatment of the native people under the encomienda system of New Spain. The Mexican natives in the encomienda system were treated as virtual slaves, were poorly fed and clothed, and were greatly overworked as farm and mine laborers. This harsh treatment appears to have left them particularly vulnerable to epidemic disease..."

And yet, mysteriously and conversely to reason, present day "Mexican natives" insist on speaking SPANISH and attempt to impose SPANISH as language onto others.

You'd think, what with the dreadful history with SPAIN, the "Mexican natives" would want to speak Norse, or Japanese, or even ENGLISH...but, noooo.

[taxed2death]

Germ Warfare bump.

[Wiseghy]

I was reading this last night in Discover. The point is the Spanish spread small pox was definitely not behind the epidemics of the mid to late 16th century in Mexico. The symptoms and epidemiology don't match, nor did any contemporaries call the pandemic Small Pox. This is despite the popular PC notion that only European illnesses nearly destroyed the Aztec race.

The article points to the vulnerability of stressed and marginal populations to pandemics (even today) and the complexity of historical epidemiology when considering local as well as exotic illnesses.

[MillerCreek]

Tree rings! At least, as to droughts, sunlight, growth rate of trees and other vegetation.

The other things, from archaeological records, combined.

[blam]

"The high mortality rate leads me to think that this was a new plague introduced into a virgin population."

Very high rates indeed. The article I have in front of me (Discover Magazine) goes to greater lengths to dismiss it as having been introduced by the Europeans.

"These symptoms are not consistent with known European or African diseases present in Mexico during the 16th century."

[AppyPappy]

They know census data from tree rings? Cool!!

[Blzbba]

"Who knew Dave Mustaine spoke Spanish?"



Stunningly, I've been trying to think of an appropriate "MegaDeth" response and am coming up short.

Rust in peace, I guess.

[eyespysomething]

Peace sells, but who's buying?

[blam]

"This is despite the popular PC notion that only European illnesses nearly destroyed the Aztec race."

I immediately wondered if this disease was connected to other 'lost civilizations' there and in South America.