The demographic and cultural consequences of Old World disease in the Greater Southwest, 1520-1660 /

Abstract

This study documents the demographic and cultural consequences of Spanish-introduced disease in northwest Mexico from 1520-1660. A related concern is the role disease played in native acceptance of Jesuit missionization during the late sixteenth and first half of the seventeenth century. To address these issues, historical and archaeological data were analysed. The results of the analysis indicate that at the time of Cortes' conquest of Tenochtitlan, and for at least several decades thereafter, many areas of the Greater Southwest supported dense populations with sophisticated economic and socio-political systems. Data from the archaeological record and from the early accounts of Spanish explorers indicate this characterization obtained in many areas until the second half of the sixteenth century. At this time, the development of the Spanish mining frontier facilitated the northward spread of smallpox and other diseases that had become endemic in Mesoamerica. By 1590, many native communities in northwest Mexico were beginning to experience repeated outbreaks of Spanish-introduced disease. It was within this context that native peoples petitioned for baptism and missionization. The Jesuits, however, were solicited for their managerial skills, particularly their ability to reconstitute native adaptive strategies that faltered or collapsed following epidemics. Similarly, through the practice and advocacy of Catholicism, the Jesuits filled a void left by the death or failure of native religious to chart a course through uncertain and inexplicable times. From the point of view of the indigenous population, acceptance of the Jesuits was therefore an opportunistic endeavor.