Russian-Eastern Trade in the Period of Epidemics, Epizootics and Epiphitotics in the XIX Century

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the problems of development of foreign trade ties between the Russian Empire and neighboring countries of the Middle East and Central Asia during periods of epidemics, epizootics and epiphytoties throughout the 19th century. Special attention is paid to the evolution of the sanitary and quarantine policy of the state, the measures of government agencies to check the spread of contagious diseases in highly endemic regions. The author shows how the emergence and spread of infectious diseases affected the dynamics of foreign trade operations, changes in distribution channels and supply of goods, pricing policy, assortment of goods, shortages, the state of fair and retail trade in the empire. Special consideration is given to the protective measures of the Russian authorities in border zones, in ports, centers of transit trade. The territorial framework of the study embraces the countries bordering Russia in the east - Turkey, Iran, the Central Asia Khanates, Afghanistan, as well as the territory of the Russian Empire itself. The paper analyzes the measures of state and legal regulation of foreign and domestic trade underconditions of epidemics and epizootics. The preventive measures of the authorities in border areasto stop the spread of infectious diseases deep into the territory of the empire, along with goods, merchants, animals, and plants. The importance of the topic is determined by the similarity of problems in the foreign trade of contemporary Russia in connection with the pandemic of COVID-19, the disruption of foreign trade ties with near and far-abroad countries and the need to use historical experience in view of an immediate change in foreign trade strategy. The paper is based on rare archival documents and rarely used pre-revolutionary domestic and foreign sources. In the course of the study, the author came to the conclusion that a clear and fairly effective system for preventing the spread of infectious diseases was formed in the Russian Empire throughout the 19th century, a system was developed to respond to the interruption of the influxof goods and their sale under conditions of epidemics, epizootics and epiphytoties, to search for alternative channels for supplying the necessary goods to prevent shortages, price increases, production shutdowns, etc.