«Il morbo continua a regnare». Plague in Tunisia between 1818 and 1820 in the relations of Sardinian Consul Gaetano Palma di Borgofranco

Between 1818 and 1820 Tunisia was struck by a serious epidemic of plague, which caused the deaths of thousands of people. In this context, European Consuls present in the North African Country reported in the relations to their Governments news about the spread and progress of contagion, the mortality rate and the measures taken by the Tunisian Authorities during the emergency: although sometimes tainted by prejudices or inaccuracies, these relations are a direct testimony to the plague in Tunisia and its effects. In this article are presented the references to the epidemic in the relations of Sabaudian Consul in Tunis, Gaetano Palma di Borgofranco, with particular attention to the tendentially negative imagine of the Tunisian Governement and population in these relations. Through the analysis of documents preserved in the Archivi di Stato of Genoa and Turin emerge, therefore, not only the practical data relating to the epidemic but also the ideas and attitudes of a nineteenth-century European diplomat towards a Muslim society during a health emergency.

Keywords: Consulate of Kingdom of Sardinia in Tunis, Epidemic, Plague, Tunisia, Consular relations, Public Health.

Giorgio Toso, «Il morbo continua a regnare». La peste in Tunisia tra il 1818 e il 1820 nelle relazioni del Console sabaudo Gaetano Palma di Borgofranco in "STORIA URBANA " 168/2021, pp 51-76, DOI: 10.3280/SU2021-168003