Native Society and Disease in Colonial Ecuador (Cambridge Latin American Studies, Series Number 71)

This book examines the relationship between indigenous populations in the north-central highlands of Ecuador and disease, especially those infections introduced by Europeans during the sixteenth century. Disease, of course, existed in the Americas long before 1500. But just as native societies resisted and eventually adapted to European conquest, so too did they adapt to Old World pathogens. Just as the responses of Indian communities to the economic and political demands of Spaniards varied over time, so too did the immunological responses of indigenous populations change over generations. What began in the sixteenth century as contact and invasion soon would involve both Indians and Europeans in a new history of biological, as well as social, adaptation. Frontmatter Acknowledgments (page ix) Introduction (page 1) 1 Along the avenue of volcanoes (page 5) The setting (page 5) Native society before 1534 (page 7) The Inca conquest (page 8) The native population before 1534 (page 12) 2 Disease, illness, and healing before 1534 (page 19) The pathological setting (page 19) Native concepts of health and illness (page 25) Healing, ritual, and meaning (page 29) 3 Conquest and epidemic disease in the sixteenth century (page 32) The Spanish conquest of Quito (page 32) Epidemics during the sixteenth century (page 35) Hospitals and public health (page 43) Demographic trends (page 46) 4 Changing patterns of disease and demography in the seventeenth century (page 57) Disease and natural disasters (page 57) European medicine and public health (page 66) Changing concepts of disease in native society (page 72) Demographic recovery to 1690 (page 76) 5 Disaster and crisis in the 1690s (page 89) The reforms of Palata, migration, and epidemics (page 89) The disasters of the 1690s (page 91) Demographic crisis (page 95) 6 Disease and demographic stagnation in the eighteenth century (page 100) Epidemics and endemic disease (page 100) European medicine and public health (page 108) Demographic stagnation and economic depression (page 113) Native medicine and political resistance (page 124) Conclusion (page 130) Glossary (page 134) Bibliography (page 137) Index (page 149) This book examines the relationship between the indigenous peoples of northern Ecuador and disease, especially those infections introduced by Europeans during the sixteenth century. It addresses an important and often overlooked element in the history of Amerindian populations: their biological adaptability and resilience. Along The Avenue Of Volcanoes -- Disease, Illness, And Healing Before 1534 -- Conquest And Epidemic Disease -- Changing Patterns Of Disease And Demography -- Disaster And Crisis In The 1690s -- Disease And Demographic Stagnation. Suzanne Austin Alchon. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 137-147) And Index. "When the Spanish marched into the highlands of Ecuador in 1534, they knew that they were entering the northern sector of the Inca empire."