[16th century: suffering and disease on the way to great discoveries; from Lisbon to the Moluccas and to Japan]

Abstract

It is known that plague epidemics and pandemics spread both by sea and by land. However, in the 16th century an entire "hidden face" of the continent was discovered and opened thanks to the Portuguese. It is noteworthy that just as Francis I or the Dutch, Yersinia pestis did not respect the longitudinal limits set out by the treaties of Tordessillas and Saragossa. Even before the arrival of Vasco de Gama in Goa and all the way to the settling of the Moluques in Macao, Canton and Kagoshima, one can follow the progression of at least ten or so epidemics against a general epidemic back drop, thanks especially to the works of Jose de Vasconcellos e Menezes as well as some others. Scurvy was, as far as plague was concerned, a regulating factor, at least to a certain extent.