Migration and Disease in the Black Sea Region: Ottoman-Russian Relations in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries

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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.

Reviews

[The] book succeeds in bringing the Russian-Ottoman confrontation more fully into comparative world history [It] is a solid work of scholarship and a welcome addition to Russian-Ottoman relations and the study of war, resettlement, and disease in modern history. * H-Russia *
Diving deep below the surface of well-known stories of military conflict between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in and around the Black Sea, Andrew Robarts opens up new historical horizons to show how two of world historys most important empires formed each other through their attempts to manage both peoples and diseases on the move. Based on its own veritable sea of empirical evidence in half a dozen languages, this books arguments will stand the test of time for imperial historians, comparativists, historians of medicine, and all those interested in the creation of the tools of modern statecraft. * Alan Mikhail, Yale University, USA *
Migration and Disease in the Black Sea Region is an illuminative study, combining regional and imperial perspectives and offering a rich, complex, and dynamic picture of long lasting political issues and demographic processes. Building upon case studies and addressing important historical topics, this book offers a major contribution to our understanding of Eastern European history in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. * Alexei Kalionski, Sofia University, Bulgaria *
Robarts has produced a truly excellent study covering the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and has supplied rich factual information while opening new intellectual vistas. I recommend it very strongly to all students of the Black Sea region. * The Russian Review *
An innovative and fundamental standard [of] work. * Connections (Bloomsbury translation) *

Author Bio

Andrew Robarts is Assistant Professor of History at the Rhode Island School of Design, USA. He is the author of Black Sea Regionalism: A Case Study (2014).