COVID-19 is by no means Andalusia’s first epidemic. Like other European territories, southern Spain experienced major episodes of infectious diseases in past centuries. Some of these significantly altered the region’s history. While outbreaks of cholera, typhus, or dysentery occurred in all provinces and at very different times, in these lines we analyze three of the most famous, centered in three distinct areas: Malaga, Seville, and Cadiz.
The Black Death in Malaga in 1349
One of the first major epidemics recorded in what is now Andalusian territory was in Malaga in 1349. This city, then part of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, was mercilessly struck by an outbreak of the Black Death. Although it did not originate here, nor was it the only city affected—its origin was likely in Mongolia a few years earlier. Contemporary accounts describe how the afflicted would gather at mosque gates seeking help, only to die unaided in the outskirts. It is estimated that, in total, one-third of the population perished.
Andalusia’s Great Epidemic: Seville in 1649
However, Andalusia’s largest epidemic was the bubonic plague that ravaged Seville in the mid-17th century. Specifically, in 1649, as if it were a sinister third centenary of the one that devastated Muslim Malaga 300 years prior. The bacterium Yersinia pestis, likely arriving from Africa, found the perfect environment for its deadly expansion here: floods and marshy terrain caused by torrential rains and major Guadalquivir river overflows, which led to widespread famine among the population due to poor harvests.
The high mortality and despair led to decisions recently revisited, such as limiting mobility: in Madrid, the capital of the Court, entry was prohibited for all travelers or goods coming from Seville. In total, it is estimated that Seville’s population decreased by almost 50%, with about 60,000 fatalities. This represented almost the final blow for a city that had lost much of its commercial weight with the Indies.
Yellow Fever in the Cortes of Cadiz in the 19th Century
Once again, a port city fell victim to an infectious epidemic. In this case, Cadiz, the new epicenter of trade with the Overseas territories, which not only brought great wealth but also diseases like yellow fever. At the beginning of the 19th century and in different years, outbreaks of this tropical pathology occurred, causing yellowing of the skin and other symptoms such as severe vomiting. And although it did not cause as high a mortality rate as in Seville, few know that it significantly influenced one of the most important periods in the city’s history: the birth of the Cadiz Constitution of 1812.
In fact, it was common for Cortes sessions to begin with the reading of the health report, which must have included deaths such as that of Puerto Rican politician Ramón Power. Furthermore, the 1813 resurgence prompted a new relocation of the Cortes to nearby San Fernando, as well as other measures that laid the foundations of modern epidemiology.
