CHOLERA EPIDEMICS IN THE LATE OTTOMAN ISTANBUL, HEALTHCARE AND THE FRENCH CATHOLIC SISTERS OF CHARITY

Abstract

This article is about the healthcare services provided by the Sisters of Charity (Filles de la Charite) during cholera epidemics in institutions opened and managed in nineteenth century Istanbul as part of their Eastern missions. The annuals in which reports and letters were collected and addressed to the center of the congregation in Paris, Annales de la Congregation de la Mission et des Filles de la Charite (ACM), are used as primary sources. This study aims to evaluate the pandemies of cholera within the framework of world history and Ottoman context by contributing to the existing historical geographies of cholera, in addition to the literature, which accentuates the importance of agency of women in the Ottoman context, based on original findings. The article assesses how cholera affected Istanbul and how the disease was dealth with, through the connections between the sisters and local actors. The study also shows that the Ottoman example was not only a result of Western experiences, but although it was part of a wide history of pandemics, its actors had their own unique developments shaped by imperial and local settings and events.