Introduction
Hijaz and Istanbul were terrified of Cholera entering the region during the hajj from India. The 1865 period resulted in the deaths of 15,000-30,000 pilgrims and triggered a worldwide pandemic (Low 120). The outbreak struck Egypt in 1883, killing approximately 50,000 people (Low 121). The networks that moved and disseminated the empire’s crops and resources also carried epidemic diseases.
Coping with India’s Ecological Fallout
Cholera is a serious diarrheal illness caused by contact with contaminated water containing the Vibrio cholerae bacteria (Low 124). The cramped quarters below decks served as breeding grounds for cholera as it spread from one person to another (Low 126).
According to Ottoman authorities, British colonial practices in India triggered and made the cholera epidemic worse, Ottoman rulers made every effort to use the feeble processes of international diplomacy (Low 123).
Sanitary Reforms In Istanbul
Foreign visitors, urban Hijazis, and Bedouins argued that hygienic improvements and quarantine policies were not Islamic and evidence of Europe’s growing dominance over the Hijaz and the hajj (Low 128). Through the sanitary reform of the Hijaz and the wider Red Sea, the Ottoman state was given vital opportunities to expand its administrative influence and emphasize the empire’s territorial sovereignty (Low 131).
The British Colonial Empire’s Role in the Global Spread of Cholera
British military conflicts, railway transportation, advanced trade, and food delivery networks increased cholera mobility. British troops introduced the disease to Nepal and Afghanistan in 1818 (Low 130). In 1831 and 1833, cholera swept across the Baltic, spreading to Canada and the United States. To save Istanbul and the Ottoman army against cholera and plague epidemics coming from the Black Sea or the Mediterranean between 1831 and 1838, Sultan Mahmud II attempted a series of temporary quarantine restrictions (Low 131).
International Conferences on Quarantine and Sanitation
A worldwide conference on cleanliness and quarantine was suggested by French Emperor Napoleon III in 1866. Sultan Abdülaziz concurred when the French administration requested. In the conference’s discussions, a new age of global sanitary interventionism began (Low 130). According to the representatives, cholera was “communicable, Asiatic cholera to be endemic in India, means of conveyance, the Hindu pilgrimage destinations, and Hajj to Mecca pilgrimage.
Logistical Limits: First Steps and False Starts
Ottoman Board of Health enacted reforms. Locations associated with the Kurban sacrifice were given special consideration, and steps were taken to improve the management of animal corpse removal and smell reduction (Low 133). The prohibition of the sale of potentially harmful foods and beverages was given second priority. From 1866 to 1868, annual public health commissioners were dispatched to the Red Sea for each hajj pilgrimage. In 1867, the panel recommended widening Mecca’s streets and demolishing shoddy extensions to homes and businesses that clogged the city’s main thoroughfares (Low 135).
British India and the Science of Denial
There was also the adamant opposition of the medical professions in Britain and India to any discourse of quarantine and the contagiousness of cholera (Low 139). British and British Indian delegates frequently expressed a desire for more flexible health inspections and information-sharing systems. British India explicitly said that it would not allow any such Convention to constrain its legal system.
Dr. J. M. Cunningham, the sanitary commissioner for the government of India, contested attempts for worldwide quarantine. Cunningham claimed that only inadequacies in local sanitary practices were to blame for cholera (Low 140). Cunningham persisted in his belief that cholera epidemics were caused by the “fermentative byproducts of the earth. Pettenkofer, validated his argument and when Robert Koch made the cholera bacillus discovery in 1884, his adversary inevitably challenged his work.
Kamaran : An Island of Discontent in a Sea of Suffering
The captains of the ships that stopped at Kamaran warned about the dangers of the island’s approaches to large ships. Both ship captains and passengers complained about the high quarantine costs and the scarcity of food and water (Low 146). The huts were made of date palm branches and timber. Pilgrims complained about the thinness of the roofing and the lack of ventilation.
Conclusion
The Ottoman Empire provided water safety and disinfection equipment. Kamaran residents were evacuated to prevent new outbreaks. There was also the installation of shower stalls and the reorganization of the camps and hospital facilities (Low 150).
Modern disinfection stations for sterilizing pilgrims’ garments were installed at Kamaran and throughout the Ottoman quarantine system. The requirement for both men and women to strip naked before entering the disinfection equipment was resisted because it was culturally unacceptable (Low 160).
References
Low, Michael Christopher. “THREE Microbial Mecca and the Global Crisis of Cholera.” Imperial Mecca. Columbia University Press, 2020. 117-166.