Rinderpest is known as one of the most catastrophic epidemic animal diseases in history, and it led to widespread animal losses across the Ottoman Empire, as it did in other parts of the world. However, European states increasingly employed financial compensation schemes to ensure compliance with culling and quarantine measures, thereby reducing the devastating effects of the disease. In contrast, the Ottoman Empire’s case displayed a different picture, as the government delayed applying similar practices. This study focuses on the delay in the Ottoman Empire and examines its causes (e.g., fiscal constraints, institutional inertia, and insufficient internal advocacy within the Empire’s institutions) in a detailed way. Therefore, official Ottoman archival documents about the disease and state-backed applications were analyzed to understand the emergence of legal frameworks for animal compensation, providing valuable insights into the political, economic, and scientific dynamics that reshaped veterinary public health in the Empire. By comparing the applications in the Empire with those applied in Europe, this study highlights how economic tools were essential not only for disease control but also for securing rural cooperation. Therefore, the results contribute to historical scholarship on epidemic governance and veterinary practices, offering a comparative perspective on the evolution of public health policies in pre-modern states. The findings of this study are relevant to contemporary debates on state intervention, biosecurity, and rural livelihoods in times of epidemic crises.

Username
Password