Urban Sanitation in Baghdad and Basra during the Late Ottoman Period, 1891–1914

The Ottoman cities of Baghdad and Basra experienced several cholera and plague epidemics during the nineteenth century. While the Ottoman government typically responded to these epidemics by enforcing quarantine measures, beginning in the 1890s, it began focusing on improving urban sanitation, particularly as it concerned water management. It continued doing so until the British occupied both cities during World War I and imposed their own sanitation policies, largely informed by the idea that the Ottomans had neglected matters of sanitation. In examining Ottoman attempts to improve urban sanitation in Ottoman Iraq from 1891 to 1914, this paper highlights important Ottoman precedents in urban sanitation that predate the establishment of the British Mandate of Iraq.