Of expeditions and expeditionaries. The medical expedition of the peninsular Francisco Xavier de Balmis to Zacatecas (1804).

Abstract

A long-term process of exchanges of all kinds between Spain and New Spain began in 1519 with the arrival of Hernán Cortés on American soil. The exchanges took place in all areas: cultural, religious, material, biological, health, and so on. Despite the law of the strongest was imposed, it should be noted that in the process both continents lived, suffered, and benefited from this encounter between two worlds with different worldviews.
In this work we intend to think over the exchanges that took place in the field of health and disease, between Spain and New Spain, focusing on the expeditions made by Francisco Xavier de Balmis to New Spain. This event has already been addressed by other researchers, in a general way or in a specific space. However, this article aims to describe the activities carried out by Dr. Balmis in one of the most important mining cities of the viceroyalty: Zacatecas. Here we ponder the positive reaction of authorities and residents of the population center, in comparison with other cities of the viceroyalty, where the reception was different. The sources that support this work are in the General Archive of the Nation (AGN-Mexico), and
their treatment is carried out from the approaches of social history.