History of Latin American Dermatology

CÉSAR QUIÑONES, PABLO I. ALMODÓVARwhich they had of different colors. The women adorned themselves with earrings andnecklaces of pebbles, and cut their hair.The Taino were socially divided into three classes: the nitaino (chiefs), naboria (workers),and bohique, who were doctors and priests. They believed in a god of good whomthey called Yukiyú, an immortal being who had no beginning, although it had a mothercalled Alabex. There was also a god of evil called Juracán, who was responsible forstorms, earthquakes and bad harvests. They believed in an afterlife, and thus carefullyburied their dead in a crouching position, with their knees against their chests and theirheads tilted. In their tombs, they placed vessels full of food and water to use on the trip.The bohique were in charge of religious ceremonies and of the care of the sick. Theyhad knowledge of the curative properties of plants; they used mancinella (Hippomane)and tua-tua (Jatrophagossyfolia) as purgatives and cashew (Anacardium occidentale) forrespiratory diseases. They knew the art of bloodletting, castrating and treating brokenbones by keeping them immobile with damp yagua palm (the fiber-like tissue that surroundsthe highest and most tender part of the palm’s trunk). They also used massagesin their treatments.The Antillean Indian had good hygienic habits. Upon getting up in the morning, heused to bathe in the river or ravine, and then, with the help of his couple, he would painthimself with achiote (Bixa orellana), to protect himself from the sun’s rays and frommosquitoes.■ From the arrival arrival of Columbus of Columbus to the change in to sovereignty the change in sovereigntyOn November 19, 1493, on his second trip, Christopher Columbus discovered PuertoRico; he made a stopover to stock up with water and set sail three days later, never toreturn. In 1508, Juan Ponce de León began the colonization.The Spaniards treated the population severely; they employed the natives’ forcedlabor for mining production, the construction of houses and agriculture. These changesin their ways of life caused the Indians many losses. Other natives died from a smallpoxepidemic — a disease that had not existed in America — followed by a syphilis (Gallicdisease) epidemic and other diseases coming from Africa and Europe. The Taino usedguaiacum (guaiacum officinale) to combat syphilis.Due to the decrease in the indigenous population, African slaves began to be imported.A census of 1530 reported a population of 369 whites, 1,148 Indians (out of anoriginal population of more than 30,000), and 1,523 black African slaves.Towards 1787, the population had increased to 103,051, but only 2,302 full-bloodedIndians remained, descendants of those who were able to hide from the conquistadorsby taking refuge in the harshest parts of the hills near the village of Maricao, in a placeknown as the “Indiera.”Little has been written on the medicine of this era, but it is known that in 1803 smallpoxappeared again in the country and was treated by Dr. Francisco Oller, who, using thevaccinia, succeeded in containing the epidemic. Fate was different for the cholera epidemicthat took place in 1855, during which an estimated 30,000 people died, includingone-third of the slaves.The few existing doctors were assigned to military sectors. There were no hospital facilitiesfor the population, and only the higher class had access to doctors.On December 10, 1898, the Treaty of Paris was signed, an event that put an end tothe Spanish-American War and closed a four-century era, during which neither healthnor education were properly attended to on the Island.372