Epidemic diseases in İstanbul in the first half of the 19th century

In the historical process, epidemics such as plague, cholera and smallpox have gained a global dimension and are remembered as devastating epidemics affecting societies and states. The Ottoman Empire also got its share from these epidemics that affected the whole world and had to struggle with these diseases for many years. Especially since it is the capital city and located on the transit route between the continents, Istanbul has been one of the most important cities among the Ottoman cities that were frequently exposed to diseases. These epidemics spread to Istanbul as a result of traders, pilgrims, armies and migrations for various reasons. As a result of the emerging epidemics, many lives were lost and the society was negatively affected in the psychological, political, social and economic areas. One of the periods when epidemics took Istanbul prisoner was the first half of the 19th century. In this period, the state had to deal with many issues at the same time, so it could not be successful enough in the fight against epidemics, which brought great loss of life and property. Epidemics have been tried to be prevented by applying new measures and treatment methods such as medicine and vaccination. With these measures, greater success has been achieved compared to previous periods. Although the public's perception of the disease negatively affected these new measures and treatments for a while, and thus the fight against epidemics, the state tried to prevent these negative effects and minimize the effects of epidemics by raising awareness among the public. There have been many studies on epidemics, but among these studies, those related to Istanbul are very few. Generally, when the epidemics in Anatolia are described, Istanbul is explained under small titles or only one of the epidemics affecting Istanbul is discussed. In this study, plague, cholera and smallpox epidemics, which affected much larger masses globally and continued in Istanbul for many years, were examined as a whole and the deficiency in this regard was tried to be eliminated. The 19th century, when these epidemics occurred one after another, was chosen as the time period. The epidemics in the first half of the 19th century and the attitudes of the people and the state against these epidemics were tried to be revealed.