The plague in the Ottoman Empire, 1300--1838

Contrary to the dominant view that the Ottomans, like other pre-modern Islamic civilizations, failed to take proactive measures against the plague, resigning themselves to "God's fate" until the Europeans imposed a maritime quarantine upon the empire in 1838, this dissertation posits that the Ottoman response should be seen within a dynamic social context, rather than in religious essentialist terms. To that effect, the core chapters will provide for the first time a broad periodization that takes into account mercantilist overseas trade, modern state formation, and colonial expansion as factors leading to the eventual social construction of the Ottoman maritime quarantine. This history will rely upon Ottoman plague treatise writers until 1838, with comparative reference to their European counterparts, particularly from England.;Ottoman plague treatise writers perceived the disease from the first great outbreak of 1347-1348 until 1800 in a variety of ways: naturalistically, theologically, magically and astrologically. This largely paralleled European treatise writers, who, until 1600, viewed the plague in similar ways, and, like their Ottoman counterparts, generally wrote for relatively small courtly and academic circles.;The Europeans, particularly the English and other emerging early modern sea-based commercial powers, began to see the plague in mercantilist terms roughly after 1600. This prompted discussion on whether the maritime quarantine, which targeted French and Dutch exports of Ottoman cotton and wool as infectious materials, was an effective measure to promote trade and combat the disease. The English treatise writers communicated their ideas in print, a new medium that often standardized commercial, social, and religious life in the name of public health.;The Ottomans did not react to such changes until it began to have a direct geopolitical effect, namely French and English colonization. English merchants, spurred by the increased need for Ottoman wool and cotton exports, were especially critical of the quarantines. English trade advocates couched their criticisms in disparaging terms that sought to justify their own civilization vis-a-vis the Ottoman "other." Ottoman reformers by 1838 enacted a quarantine largely to protect their economic sovereignty. However, English protests by the English ambassador to the Porte closed down the Ottoman quarantine by 1840.