The Spanish Plague That Never Was: Crisis and Exploitation in Cádiz During the Peste of Provence

Abstract

From 1720 to 1722, French authorities successfully confined a major outbreak of plague to the region of Provence, but efficient quarantining could not prevent the diplomatic and commercial effects of this catastrophe from extending beyond Marseille into other major European cities, including Cádiz, the principal port for the Carrera de Indias or Route to the Indies. This transnational study explores Spanish responses to the Peste of Provence (or Great Plague of Marseille) under the reforming and centralist policies of Philip V, and the long-term effects that these reactions had on the management of crisis and public health in Spain.