The cholera outbreak among the Indian pilgrims and the precautions taken (1831-1911)

The outbreak of cholera, which is considered to be the deadliest disease of the 19th century and which caused great loss of life in almost every part of the world, was very effective in the Hedjaz region from the moment it first appeared. Since the region was the meeting point of the Muslim pilgrims coming from all over the world to perform the pilgrimage, one of the five conditions of Islam, it created a suitable ground for the spread of cholera among pilgrims and then to spread all over the world through pilgrims. In this context, the Ottoman Empire took many precautions to protect the Hedjaz region from cholera and epidemics, and sometimes became the pioneer and the most important element of international conferences. Both the decisions taken at these international conferences as well as the implementation of certain measures specifically determined by the state yielded positive results. The best result of this was the disinfection and sanitation check of pilgrims and everything accompanying them before coming to Hejaz with the help of the quarantine organizations established on certain routes. In our study, "the Cholera Outbreak and the Precautions Taken among Indian Pilgrims", we will refer to the country of India, which was cited as the source of cholera cases seen from 1831, when the first occurrence of cholera in the Hedjaz, to the emergence of the epidemic in 1911. We will also discuss the precautions taken in Hedjaz for Indian pilgrims and other pilgrims who were carriers of cholera. Keywords: India, cholera, outbreak, Hejaz, quarantine