Department of History
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Browsing Department of History by Subject "epizootic"
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Item Open Access The Great Epizootic of 1872–73: Networks of Animal Disease in North American Urban Environments(Environmental History, Oxford University Press, 2018-07) Kheraj, SeanThis article examines the outbreak of an unknown illness (later thought to be equine influenza) among the horses of Toronto and its subsequent spread as a continent-wide panzootic. Known as the Great Epizootic, the illness infected horses in nearly every major urban center in Canada and the United States over a 50-week period beginning in late September 1872. The Great Epizootic not only illustrated the centrality of horses to the functioning of nineteenth-century North American cities, but it also demonstrated that these cities generated ecological conditions and a networked disease pool capable of supporting the rapid spread of animal disease on a continental scale in localities from widely divergent geographies. This article invites environmental historians to broaden their view of cities to consider the ways in which networked urbanization produced forms of historical biotic homogenization that could result in the rapid and widespread outbreak of disease.Item Open Access Map of the Great Epizootic, 1872-1873 (ArcGIS)(2017-03-13) Kheraj, SeanOver the course of 50 weeks, an outbreak of what was believed to be equine influenza spread from Toronto to nearly every major city in Canada and the United States, infecting an enormous population of urban horses. The disease also infected horses in Mexico and other parts of Latin America. Nineteenth-century cities in Canada and the US were filled with horses. Equine labour provided the power for intra-urban transportation and shipping. They pulled streetcars, delivered goods, and even powered machinery. In 1872-73, cities in Canada and the US were connected by an expanding network of railways. The Grand Trunk spanned the most populous provinces of Canada and the Union Pacific recently connected the Atlantic and Pacific urban centres of the US. Railways sped the Great Epizootic across the continent, linking the bodies of horses in Toronto to nearly every city in Canada and the US. This is a map of the spread of the 1872-73 Great Epizootic. It also displays the approximate railway networks in Canada and the US. Each point on the map documents when the disease was first reported to have arrived in that city. Click on the points for details and source information about the arrival of the disease in each city. Use the timeline at the bottom to see how the epizootic spread over time week-by-week.