Table 2. Demographic Disaster in Mexico
1519-1595
Authoritative estimates of Total Population
and Implied Rates of Decrease
| | population
(millions) | population
(millions) | percent decrease |
|---|
| Author | place | 1519 | 1595 | 1519-1595 |
|---|
| Rosenblat | "Mexico" | 4.5 | 3.5 | 22 |
| Aguirre-Beltrán | | 4.5 | 2.0 | 56 |
| Zambardino | | 5-10 | 1.1-1.7 | 64-89 |
| Mendizabal | | 8.2 | 2.4 | 71 |
| Cook and Simpson | | 10.5 | 2.1-3.0 | 71-80 |
| Cook and Borah | | 18-30 | 1.4 | 78-95 |
| Sanders | Central Mexican
Symbiotic Region | 2.6-3.1 | 0.4 | 85-87 |
| Whitmore | Valley of Mexico | 1.3-2.7 | 0.1-0.4 | 69-96 |
| Gibson | | 1.5 | 0.2 | 87 |
| Sanders | | 1.0-1.2 | 0.1 | 90 |
| Kubler | 128 towns | 0.2 | 0.1 | 50 |
Sources: Rosenblat, Población indígena, vol. 1, pp. 57-122.
Aguirre-Beltrán, Población negra, pp. 200-1, 212.
Zambardino, "Mexico�s Population," pp. 21-2.
Mendizábal, "Demografía," vol. 3, p. 320.
Cook and Simpson, Population, pp. 38, 43, 45.
Cook and Borah, Aboriginal Population, p. 88.
Cook and Borah, Indian Population, pp. 46-7 (as corrected).
Sanders, "Central Mexican Symbiotic Region," p. 120; "Ecological Adaptation," p. 194.
Whitmore, Disease, p. 154.
Gibson, Aztecs, pp. 137-138.
Kubler, "Population Movements," p. 621.
Note: The nadir of the demographic disaster is usually placed in the seventeenth-century. I chose 1595 for an end-point, not because I think this to be the nadir of the native population, but to be able to interpolate, rather than extrapolate, comparable figures for the largest number of authors. Nevertheless, Sanders� figure for the Valley of Mexico is extrapolated from 1568.