The Scarcity of Divine Interactions in the History of Human Epidemics: Valley of Mexico

JF Ptak Science Books LLC  Post 827  Blog Bookstore

Images of sacred interventions stopping the spread of disease is puzzling, as in this powerful and disturbing vision of Our Lady of Guadalupe appearing above the city of Mexico in 1737¹.  Mexico City was in the second year of a devastating cholera epidemic where 40,000 had perished in that city alone.

I wonder why Heavenly intercession didn’t come earlier?  Of course the people of the Valley of Central Mexico could’ve used some heaven-sent strong-armed virtuosity many times over the centuries.  In Mexico City during the Cockuliztli epidemic of 1576 the population of the non-Spanish (Native) population fell 50% in just a few years.  Over the period of 1545-1548 70% of the population of the city nearly died of hemorrhagic fever.  This epidemic was followed by many other (major) epidemics (1576-78, 1629-1631, 1736-1741, 1761, and so on) involving whooping cough, measles, typhus, smallpox , influenza, cholera, and of course famine. Cholera—like this epidemic in Mexico City—according to Rodolfo Acuna-Soto’s study² seems to have been the least of the epidemic worries in the Valley of Mexico over the last 500 years.  According to Robert McCaa’s study of population studies³, 11 authoritative studies on the decline in population in Mexico from 1519-1598 show an average and disasterous decrease of about 50%⁴.

So with the dozens of epidemics, the invasion of Europeans, and natural and unnatural famines, I would have expected to see more demonstrations of charity from above rather than this one skimpy display in the second year of a lower-echelon epidemic. 

1. From Caberra y Quintero Escudo de Armas de Mexico..., printed in Mexico in 1746.  There is much else of interest in this book--which is probably the best and most famous of the local histories of the city--besides the image that I fixated on. 

2. [Rodolfo Âcuna-Soto.]  Forum on Microbial Threats//Global Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events December 5, 2007 “The use of Historical data sets in Understanding Ecosystems Responses to Climate Change and the Importance of Long-term Monitoring Programs…” 

3. McCaa's study HERE

4. Table of colonial disaster