Abstract
The focus of this paper is hospital medical care for indigenous peoples in the colony during the Spanish conquest and their main bases, practices and inter-ethnic relations (we understand ethnicity as also including Mesoamerican people and any other people outside Mesoamerica). Some characteristics of indigenous medicine and medical practice will also be discussed in order to highlight the similarities, differences, and attitudes of European ethnic groups towards such contrasts. The purpose of exemplifying the medical practices of both ethnic groups, and contrasting their responses, is to find in the analogy a sufficient reason to question the positioning of one practice over the other, as well as to highlight positive and negative aspects of the medical care to indigenous peoples during the colonial period in order to identify if any of these features are still prevalent in any cases.
Keywords:
Hospitalization in the Conquest; Indigenous Medicine; New Spain