Abstract

GONZALEZ FLORES, José Gustavo. Demographic Consequences of Two Colonial Epidemics for Taximaroa Families. Secuencia [online]. 2020, n.108, e1769.  Epub Oct 23, 2020. ISSN 2395-8464.  https://doi.org/10.18234/secuencia.v0i108.1769.

This article analyzes the matlazáhuatl epidemics of 1738-1739 and the typhus outbreak of 1813-1814, together with their consequences for family units through the case of Taximaroa Parish in the bishopric of Michoacán. To achieve this, burial items were analyzed using the anonymous (aggregative) counting method and the family reconstruction. The article concludes that typhus epidemics predominantly affected the adult population and that their consequences were more devastating than those of smallpox or measles, since they almost completely disrupted families as a result of the death of the father, mother or both.

Keywords : epidemic; typhus; matlazáhuatl; family; mortality; Taximaroa.