Crisis, famines and plagues in Egypt and Syria in the 13 th and 14 th century

Famines and Plagues in Egypt and Syria in the 13th and 14th Century İlyas Gökhan University of Fırat Graduate School of Social Sciences Department of History 1988, Page XXXV+402 In this thesis we studied the crisis, famines and plagues in Egypt and Syria in the 13th and 14th Century. In this period, first Ayyubies than Memlukies ruled these two regions. In this work 1200-1250 period of Ayyubi State and 1250-1405 period of Memluki State are studied. During this research we made use of the knowledge in the historical sources and we used the recent researches. The natural and Human for the crisis, famines and plagues are explaired. Then; the crisis, famines and plagues are chonologically studied and widely explanied. In the final chapter the effects of these events on the state and public are explanied. While the river Nile plays an important role on the famines and plagues in Egypt, the droughts in Syria caused these events. Between the years 1198-1202, 1294-1296, 1347-1349 (Black Death) and 1393-1405 four big disasters have taken place in these disasters, due to the famines and plagues, a large number of people have died in Egypt and Syria. The demographic structure of these two regions have changed and the economy has collapsed. The state and the community couldnt find any solutions for the crisis, faminies and plagues and the reasons for these events have been tired to explained mostly from religious point of view. Key Words: crisis, faminies, plagues, black death, economy, demography, the Nil