A sweeping examination of Ottoman plague treatise writers from the Black Death until 1923 Were you aware 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? 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 efforts to prevent urban outbreaks would help engender the Arab revolt against the empire in 1916? This book explores these facts in an engaging study of Ottoman plague treatise writers throughout their almost 600-year struggle with this epidemic disease. And it deals with the political, economic and social consequences of the methods they used to combat it.
Key Features: *Studies the premodern ways in which plague was viewed by Ottoman Islamic thinkers *Traces the eventual Ottoman acceptance of quarantines and other modern medical reforms *Analyses international debates over plagues and quarantines as a struggle about colonialism and national sovereignty Keywords: plague; quarantines; Ottoman Empire; Islam; state formation; print culture