Aztec medicine, health, and nutrition
Why were a handful of Spaniards able to overthrow the Aztec Empire? The dramatic destruction of the Aztecs has prompted historians, anthropologists, demographers, and epidemiologists to look closely at the health and nutrition of the Valley of Mexico. If the Aztecs were overcrowded, living at the edge of starvation, and incapable of treating disease effectively, then their decimation by the Europeans becomes much easier to understand. Bernard Ortiz de Montellano argues that such hypotheses do not hold up. Rather, at the time of the Conquest, the Aztecs were a thriving, well-nourished, healthy people. The swift, brutal success of the conquistadors cannot be explained by the prior ill-health or medical incompetence of their victims. To support his case, Ortiz de Montellano uses an astonishing array of evidence gained from many disciplines. Ortiz de Montellano presents the most comprehensivve and detailed explanation of Aztec medical beliefs available in English. -- From publisher's description
Print Book, English, ©1990
Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, ©1990
xvi, 308 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
9780813515625, 9780813515632, 0813515629, 0813515637
20798977
Aztec culture at the time of the conquest
Aztec religion, worldview and medicine
Population and carrying capacity of the basin of Mexico
The Aztec diet: food sources and their nutritional value
Epidemiology
Diagnosing and explaining illness
Curing illness
Syncretism in Mexican fold medicine
Nutritional values and amino acid composition of Aztec foods
Empirical evaluation of Aztec medicinal herbs