The Great Epidemic of the 16th Century

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Historic sites · Year: 1523-1531

The great epidemic that devastated Las Palmas, and by extension the entire island of Gran Canaria, during the third decade of the 16th century was neither the first nor would it be the last to afflict the city; but it was one of the most serious and disastrous in its entire history.

The infection lasted intermittently in severity between 1523 and 1531 and, even without knowing its true demographic extent exactly, it was undoubtedly the first major significant problem suffered by the young city in its short half-century of life.

It is not clear what type of disease caused the devastation. The sources call it the “ scourge of landres ”. It was possibly bubonic plague, characterised by painful swelling of the lymph nodes, called “buboes”. It is transmitted between animals and humans by the bite of infected fleas, direct contact with tissues, or inhalation of respiratory droplets.

It seems that the disease arrived in Las Palmas on a ship carrying a cargo of already infected Morisco slaves from its place of origin. It quickly spread through the population and then throughout the rest of the island. The Cabildo agreed on 23 March 1523, given the severity, to grant the Dominican friars the hermitage of Santa Catalina, on the outskirts of the city, so that they could stay there during the epidemic “ considering that their house is sick and that certain friars have died of pestilence ”.

Remedies such as vinegar used as an antiseptic, isolation or confinement, improvements in hygiene measures, the demolition of the municipal brothel (one of the main sources of contagion), prayers and the founding of hermitages (Cristo de la Vera Cruz, San Marcos Evangelista, etc.) were not enough to prevent the terrible epidemic from raging unchecked for almost a decade.

It was a period of enormous health, economic and population crisis that the young city of Las Palmas would overcome in the middle years of the 16th century.

28.09946, -15.41388