The Meaning of Columbus Day - The Diseas

As already noted, until the 1960s historians made no more than passing mention of disease epidemics in their accounts of the Conquest. Prescott injects but one brief description of a "...terrible epidemic, the small-pox, which was now sweeping over the land like fire over the prairies, smiting down prince and peasant, and adding another to the long train of woes that followed the march of the white men." This occurs as the Spaniards are heading for the final assault on the Mexica capital, and it sounds like a major development, one that would have a profound impact on the entire Spanish enterprise. Yet Prescott suddenly drops it, leaving it behind like a tiny, inconsequential island in the middle of his onrushing narrative of military and diplomatic adventures. When the Spaniards enter Tenochtitlan and come upon buildings... [read full story]