Migration and Disease in the Black Sea Region

Drawing upon Ottoman, Russian, and Bulgarian archival sources, this book explores the nexus between the environment, epidemic disease, human mobility, and the centralizing initiatives of the Ottoman and Russian states in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

As part of a broader discussion on Ottoman-Russian diplomacy, this book re-conceptualizes Ottoman-Russian relations in the Black Sea region in the 18th and 19th centuries. In response to significant increases in human mobility and the spread of epidemic diseases, Ottoman and Russian officials – at the imperial, provincial, and local levels – communicated about and coordinated their efforts to manage migratory movements and check the spread of disease in the Black Sea region. By focusing on the settlement of migrants and refugees along the peripheries of the Ottoman and Russian Empires and by foregrounding the role of local and municipal-level state authorities in the management of migration, Migration and Disease in the Black Sea Region contributes to the developing field of provincial studies in Ottoman and Russian history. This is an important book for anyone interested in comparative imperial history, migration, diaspora formation and the spread of epidemic diseases.