SANITARY POLICIES IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE IN A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

The aim of this paper is to understand the sanitary policies adopted by the Ottoman Empire during the recurring outbreaks of plague in a comparative perspective. When the Black Death first arrived, Constantinople was still part of the Byzantine empire and the Ottomans were a small Anatolian group. This was followed by three phasesof plague activity from the time the Ottoman’s conquered Constantinople, renaming it Istanbul. In the first phase (1453-1517), the Ottomans were besieged by plague imported from the West in multiple waves. Remarkably, it did not check population or urban growth. Plague pulsed in and out of the empire’s regional networks during the second phase (1517-1570). By the third phase (1570- 1600), Istanbul has transformed to a plague hub reflecting its centralizing role in the empire. Did the Ottomans try to engage actively in combating plague in other ways than imposing quarantine? In view of their well-oiled administration, it would seem inconceivable that they had not, from early days onwards, tried to limit the effect of the disease. In a global perspective the eastern Mediterranean can begin to take the pivotal place that its geography suggests it must have in understanding the second plague pandemic. In the 15th and 17th century the Ottoman Empire linked together the three continents all ravaged by the pandemic. In the decades leading up to 1600 when Istanbul became a plague hub, it reflected Istanbul’s essential role in controlling all movement within the empire and thus within this connecting zone between the three continents. Tracking the plague may well inform political and economic history as well as the history of health in this critical area.