When the disease arrives by sea: the development of maritime sanitarism in the 19th, in Portugal

Abstract

The 19th century, among other events, was marked by the outbreak of epidemics that reached a global dimension. In this century it was recognized that large epidemic outbreaks that had swept Portugal, such as cholera, the yellow fever, diphtheria or smallpox could be prevented through the application of sanitary measures. Among these measures, we highlight those that aimed the development of a sanity which aimed to monitor the movement of maritime vessels responsible for the circulation of people and merchants, preventing them from becoming transmitting diseases vehicles, when coming from suspicious countries. Regarding Portugal, this control happened during the epidemics of cholera and yellow fever. Accordingly, our goal is to consider the measures taken at the maritime sanitarism and its economic implications, reporting our analysis to the North of Portugal, more specifically to the Viana do Castelo and Caminha’s seaports.