CORONADO

Herman J. Viola, Carolyn Margolis, eds., Seeds of change: a quincentennial commemoration, (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991), p. 87:

The Pilgrim settlement to the north at Plymouth was preceeded by an epidemic that began in 1616 and, said contemporary sources, killed 90 percent of the coastal Indians.

A 1948 study by S. F. Cook and L. B. Simpson that’s mentioned in a book I picked up at the Smithsonian’s commemoration of Columbus’ arrival noted that the population of central Mexico in 1519 when Cortés arrived was roughly eleven million, though by 1540 it was less than seven million and by 1597, three million. Similar stats for Peru.

In some respects, the Indians had it better than the Europeans before they arrived:

Viola, pp. 222 -223:

In fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Europe, one out of every three children died in the first year, and less than half survived to age fifteen. Poor nutrition and infectious disease were major contributors to this high mortality. [Among the Aztecs, on the other hand,] common health complaints included intestinal disorders, headaches, coughs, and fevers.

"In terms of personal hygiene, the Spanish conquis­tador had much to learn from his Aztec adversary. Bathing was a seldom-practiced ritual in sixteenth-century Europe. [However,] the Aztec people were meticulous about per­sonal hygiene. They bathed regularly in streams and lakes, and took frequent sweat baths as well. Most dwellings in Tenochtitlán had a bathhouse, a small, circular structure that was heated by a fire built against the outer wall. The bather entered the structure and threw water against the wall to pro­duce steam. Steam baths were used for personal cleaning, as well as to treat coughs, fevers, and joint problems. The Aztecs also recognized the im­portance of dental hygiene and cleaned their teeth regularly with powdered charcoal and salt.

Barber-surgeons were the medical personnel who accompanied the Spanish conquistadores and early colonists to the New World. A general lack of confi­dence in their medical skill is suggested by the fact that conquistadores frequently sought out Aztec practitioners for health complaints, in preference to their fellow countrymen. There were many healers in Aztec society who specialized in particular ailments, and treatment frequently com­bined ritual activities and herbal remedies. Some twelve hundred plants were used...

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