2:13 The Limits of Racial... Q 2 Life among the Urban Poor: Material Culture and Plebeian Society Д For the modern visitor to Mexico City, choking on ex- haust fumes and anxiously checking ozone levels, it may be some comfort to know that pollution, in one form or another, is an age-old problem. Insalubrity plagued the colonial city as well,' though seventeenth-century contaminants were far less insidious than their modern counterparts. Filth and disease advertised their presence, but city authorities, lacking ade- quate knowledge and technical abilities, could engineer no solution. How- ever, the wealthy could buy themselves a measure of protection: a more balanced diet, cleaner living conditions, and somewhat better health care. The plebeians stood totally exposed. In the colonial period, popular notions of hygiene were very primitive; city residents frequently treated public thoroughfares as private garbage dumps. Major plazas and streets had mounds of trash piled in the cor- ners, despite "their foul odors which cause disease." In some instances, sewage from private residences flowed into canals through open pipes. Dead animals-dogs, cats, and even horses-were disposed of in streets and canals. During periods of epidemic disease, naked human corpses sometimes lay exposed to the sun all day before being removed by the authorities.³ Mexico City's location in the midst of a lake posed an additional set of difficulties above all, the problem of flooding. The most serious flood of the colonial period occurred in 1629, leaving the city partly inundated for five years and causing a temporary population loss of many thousands." After this disaster, the crown instituted a project to dig a huge drainage canal, the desagüe, thereby reducing the water level of the surrounding lakes. Work on the desagüe continued, on and off, for over a century, con- suming millions of pesos and thousands of Indian laborers. Yet episodes of flooding recurred at intervals, notably, in 1648, 1675, 1707, 1732, and 1747-48.5 Besides their immediate dangers, these waters-"the common and con- 27 EBSCO Publishing: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) printed on 8/28/2017 1:17 AM via LOS ANGELES VALLEY COLLEGE AN: 336381; Cope, R. Douglas.; The Limits of Racial Domination: Plebeian Society in Colonial Mexico City, 1660-1720 Account: s8427306 12 € 4 Dashboard Calendar To Do Notifications Inbox

2:13 The Limits of Racial... Q 2 Life among the Urban Poor: Material Culture and Plebeian Society Д For the modern visitor to Mexico City, choking on ex- haust fumes and anxiously checking ozone levels, it may be some comfort to know that pollution, in one form or another, is an age-old problem. Insalubrity plagued the colonial city as well,' though seventeenth-century contaminants were far less insidious than their modern counterparts. Filth and disease advertised their presence, but city authorities, lacking ade- quate knowledge and technical abilities, could engineer no solution. How- ever, the wealthy could buy themselves a measure of protection: a more balanced diet, cleaner living conditions, and somewhat better health care. The plebeians stood totally exposed. In the colonial period, popular notions of hygiene were very primitive; city residents frequently treated public thoroughfares as private garbage dumps. Major plazas and streets had mounds of trash piled in the cor- ners, despite "their foul odors which cause disease." In some instances, sewage from private residences flowed into canals through open pipes. Dead animals-dogs, cats, and even horses-were disposed of in streets and canals. During periods of epidemic disease, naked human corpses sometimes lay exposed to the sun all day before being removed by the authorities.³ Mexico City's location in the midst of a lake posed an additional set of difficulties above all, the problem of flooding. The most serious flood of the colonial period occurred in 1629, leaving the city partly inundated for five years and causing a temporary population loss of many thousands." After this disaster, the crown instituted a project to dig a huge drainage canal, the desagüe, thereby reducing the water level of the surrounding lakes. Work on the desagüe continued, on and off, for over a century, con- suming millions of pesos and thousands of Indian laborers. Yet episodes of flooding recurred at intervals, notably, in 1648, 1675, 1707, 1732, and 1747-48.5 Besides their immediate dangers, these waters-"the common and con- 27 EBSCO Publishing: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) printed on 8/28/2017 1:17 AM via LOS ANGELES VALLEY COLLEGE AN: 336381; Cope, R. Douglas.; The Limits of Racial Domination: Plebeian Society in Colonial Mexico City, 1660-1720 Account: s8427306 12 € 4 Dashboard Calendar To Do Notifications Inbox