NMC309H1

The Plague in the Middle East: 13th-19th Centuries

The pandemic of the 1340-50s, known as "The Black Death," was only the peak of a much longer experience of a plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. The plague may have reached the Abbasid empire in the 13th century and contributed to its fall, and devastating outbreaks continued for six centuries, transforming the Ottoman state and the experiences of its subjects. In this course, we examine how ecological disruption, war, commerce, pilgrimage, and urbanization, all contributed to the globalization of the disease. We study how the plague impacted daily life, religious beliefs, ritual practices, comparative economic development, imperial power, international diplomacy, and colonialism. We also explore how historians and scientists in the past decade have collaborated to make radical breakthroughs which have completely reshaped our understanding of what happened in the past. All readings will be provided in English.