When death lurks:

the epidemics in Minho between the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20th century

Abstract

With this article, we intend to present the results of our research on the diseases and epidemics that plagued Portugal and, in particular, Minho, a region bordering the Spanish province of Galicia. For this purpose, we mainly use medical texts and the local press of the time. Throughout the 19th century and in the first decades of the following century, there were several diseases that brought death and misery to the people of the Minho lands, namely, cholera, smallpox, typhus, pneumonic flu. Poverty, the lack of hygiene care, the precarious living conditions of the general population, among other factors, potentiated the emergence and spread of all types of diseases. In order to combat them and prevent their spread, several measures have been taken by the health and administrative authorities, which are not always well accepted by the population, as they jeopardize their livelihood and their way of life.