Health care in Mesoamerica before and after 1519.

Abstract

This paper discusses the situation of healthcare in Mesoameri­ca before and immediately after 1519. In the first 50 years after the Conquest, the Spaniards made extensive use of Nahuatl medicine. However, the influence of this medical tradition was limited due to the rapid imposition of a very different medical system which took little advantage of, among other things, the therapeutic wealth of pre-Hispanic healing traditions.

Keywords

• mesoamérica
• atención a la salud
• medicina tradicional
• plantas medicinales