Plague, Quarantines and Geopolitics in the Ottoman Empire
Author(s)
Bulmus, Birsen
Collection
Knowledge Unlatched (KU)Number
100107Language
EnglishAbstract
Did you know that many of the greatest and most colourful Ottoman statesmen and literary figures from the 15th to the early 20th century considered plague as a grave threat to their empire? And did you know that many Ottomans applauded the establishment of a quarantine against the disease in 1838 as a tool to resist British and French political and commercial penetration? Or that later Ottoman sanitation effort to prevent urban outbreaks would help engender the Arab revolt against the empire in 1916? Birsen Bulmus explores these facts in an engaging study of Ottoman plague treatise writers throughout their almost 600-year struggle with this epidemic disease. Along the way, she addresses the political, economic and social consequences of the methods they used to combat it.
Keywords
History; plague; quarantines; Ottoman Empire; Islam; state formation; print culture; Bubonic plague; GodDOI
10.26530/oapen_625255ISBN
9781474423397OCN
987449406Publisher
Edinburgh University PressPublisher website
https://www.euppublishing.com/Publication date and place
2005-01-01Classification
General and world history