Abstract
In the year of 1791, a smallpox epidemic which affected the Indian populations of the Arauco frontier –south of Bio-Bio river in Chile– worried the colonial authorities of Concepcion, due to the fear that the Spanish inhabitants of that region could also get infected. Acting according to the contagion paradigm, they imposed a cordon sanitaire in order to isolate them from the Natives, and suggested these do the same. Also, conscious that the plague was commonly attributed to Spanish witchcraft, they hurried to offer medicine and medical advice, in order to show there was no will to cause damage. The responses of the different Indian groups demonstrated the co-existence of a wide variety of perspectives regarding the etiology of smallpox and the possible paths of action: from a personalist conception which attributed it to witches’ activities, to the admission of their own inability to find proper treatment, which led to the acceptance of Spanish medicines. The general picture shows a native model of the illness that is both conservative and innovative, complex and dynamic at the same time. The description of those events, found in a folder which was later sent to Spain, and the references contained in other colonial documents, allow the examination of the epidemiologic event using as a comparative context the conceptualizations now current among the Mapuche. They also allow the analysis of dominant conceptions concerning illness among the Spaniards in the late eighteenth century.
Highlights
Of the different Indian groups demonstrated the co-existence of a wide variety of perspectives regarding the etiology of smallpox and the possible paths of action: from a personalist conception which attributed it to witches’ activities, to the admission of their own inability to find proper treatment, which led to the acceptance of Spanish medicines
OHiggins y sus subordinados temían que los nativos atribuyeran la enfermedad a la hechicería hispana, y en venganza reaccionaran con violencia
Ante la amenaza de desórdenes originados en la inquietud de los indígenas a raíz de la epidemia, que podrían poner en riesgo el Parlamento General que OHiggins prelado huía con su comitiva a esconderse en los riscos de Yupegue
Summary
En el año 1791, el presidente y capitán general del Reino de Chile, Ambrosio OHiggins, intentaba organizar trabajosamente un Parlamento General que reuniera a todos los indígenas independientes que vivían al sur del río Bío-Bío para asegurarse, como era costumbre, la paz y la concordia entre las distintas parcialidades, y de todas ellas con la corona española. En los primeros momentos de su contacto con las pestes introducidas por los europeos, los reche/mapuche elaboraron explicaciones de tipo personalista: la enfermedad fue atribuida a la intervención malintencionada de agentes humanos (por ejemplo, gobernadores, misioneros, obispos) que empleaban la brujería para difundir el daño entre ellos 5. A comienzos del siglo XVIII en la cordillera de los Andes, los misioneros jesuitas fueron responsabilizados de utilizar la imagen de la virgen para difundir una peste de “cursos de sangre”, posiblemente disentería 14: Tambien casi por este mismo tiempo corrio en las tierras del norte i pehuenches una epidemia de cursos de sangre, que acabó con muchos indios. La situación no concluía allí, pues los Puelches de ultra-cordillera amenazaban con atacar Valdivia en caso de verse afectados por la epidemia: “q.e en la hora q.e dentrase la peste en ellos, venian à vengarse del Gov.r y españoles” 16
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