Paper short abstract:

This paper seeks to connect global grain flows, as well as the logistical infrastructure that made them possible, with the widespread diffusion of plague between 1894 and 1904. I will analyze three specific case studies: Bombay (India), Rosario (Argentina), and Port Elizabeth (South Africa).

Paper long abstract:

Starting in 1894, bubonic plague spread swiftly from China to all inhabited continents. Various scholars have pointed out that this pandemic was directly related to the impact of steam-powered ships, which thanks to their unprecedented speed were able to break the “time-filter factor” that had previously hindered long-distance plague transmission. This paper will focus on another causal variable: the global circulation of agricultural commodities, especially of grains such as wheat, maize, and rice. During the late nineteenth century, the trade of bulk commodities over long distances grew dramatically both in terms of volume and geographical scope. In the case of grain, a combination of multiple factors—including, for example, the drastic fall of intercontinental freight rates and the global expansion of temperate and tropical agricultural frontiers—contributed to the gradual emergence of a unified world market. My research seeks to connect grain flows, as well as the logistical infrastructure that made them possible, with the widespread diffusion of Yersinia pestis between 1894 and 1904. Relying on the concept of “stored grain ecosystem,” borrowed from the field of agricultural science, I argue that the development of an interlinked network of grain storage facilities and transportation lines created ecologically advantageous conditions for the spread of plague vectors, namely rats (e.g., Rattus norvegicus and Rattus rattus) and rat fleas (typically Xenopsylla cheopis, the oriental rat flea). I will analyze three specific case studies: Bombay (India), Rosario (Argentina), and Port Elizabeth (South Africa).