Abstract

PENICHE MORENO, Paola. Effects of Hurricanes in the past. Bacalar, 1785. Estud. cult. maya [online]. 2018, vol.51, pp.175-196. ISSN 0185-2574.  https://doi.org/10.19130/iifl.ecm.2018.51.874..

This article dicusses the effects of a hurricane that struck Bacalar in 1785, highlighting three geo-historical variables: a) the location of Bacalar, distant from Merida and surrounded by both British loggers and Mayan rebels in the neighboring forests; b) the dispute over the logging of palo de tinte (Haematoxylum campechianum); c) temporal rain-fed agriculture as the basis of livelihood. Its relevance lies in the analyzed sources that narrate the experience lived in detail, as well as in the approach that allows looking beyond the devastation. It is concluded that in addition to the intensity of the natural phenomenon, the disaster was detonated by the vulnerable context in which Bacalar was, in the midst of a disruption by the control and management of strategic resources, mainly the palo de tinte.

Keywords : Hurricanes; vulnerability; history; logwood; Yucatán; Belize.