Document Type : .

Authors

• Yaqub Tabesh ¹
• Mohammad Hassan Pourghanbar ²

¹ Associate Professor of History, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran

² Phd of history, Shahid beheshti university, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Deadly and infectious diseases can be considered important challenges of pre-modern Iranian society; Such as the lack of proper health infrastructure and the inefficiency of traditional medicine paved the way for the spread of deadly diseases, and inflicted terrible financial and human losses on the Iranian people. These diseases were not limited to humans, but sometimes included animal and livestock diseases, such as one of the most common outbreaks of plague and anthrax among domestic livestock, especially cattle, which occurred during the first years of the 14th century. This article, based on the descriptive-analytical research method and with emphasis on analyzing the data of journals and documents of archival centers, has studied the consequences and results of this phenomenon and it has been dealt with from three social, economic, and political dimensions. Findings indicate that livelihood difficulties for rural areas, threats to public health and the health of people in the community, serious damage to the country's agricultural economy, loss of government tax revenue, damage to the livestock economy, damage to the commercial economy and the export of livestock inputs, Pressure on the government by the National Assembly, serious challenges and disagreements between members of parliament, the provision of support packages to the affected people by the government, and finally the government's efforts to create and expand modern medical and health infrastructure from There were consequences of cattle mortality in Iran at that time.

Keywords

• Iran in the 1300s
• animal diseases
• Cows dying
• consequences of cattle death

Extended Abstract

Consequences of the outbreak of animal diseases: investigation of cattle mortality in Iran in the 1300s

Introduction: One of the important problems that challenged the livelihood and even the life of the people of Iran in historical periods was the occurrence of many and varied diseases in the country, a problem that not only directly, that is, by infecting people with These diseases put their lives under threat, but also indirectly put people's lives at risk, such that the spread of diseases among domestic animals and livestock, the lives and livelihoods of a significant number of It paralyzed the people, especially the rural and Illyrian strata of Iran. In this article, as a research work in the field of social history, an attempt has been made to analyze some of its dimensions in Iran during the middle years of the 1300s by focusing on the phenomenon of the death of cattle and domestic livestock, especially cows. The domestic animal in question was not only important in terms of livestock products, i.e. milk and its derivatives, meat, skin, etc., but also in rural and agricultural areas before industrialization, and before the invention and spread of machines, tools. It was considered a key in organizing the stages of planting, planting and harvesting, hence, the role and function of this charpa in the social and economic history of Iranian people is undeniable. Regarding the research background, it should be mentioned that, although on the one hand, there are articles focusing on deadly infectious diseases in periods of Iranian history, such as "The encounter of native medicine with plague and plague in Iran during the Qajar period", "The social and economic impact of cholera in the period Qajar", "Plague in Qajar-era Iran", "Plague in Safavid-era Iran" have been published so far, and even published articles such as "Infectious diseases, the first medical challenge in Iran's oil industry", and "Plague and measures The first Pahlavi government, in order to deal with its spread, has been written almost at the same time as this article, but none of them addressed the issue of cattle diseases and its consequences, and did not even come close to this issue. Therefore, the present article can be considered original and contains new and significant content and sheds light on a hidden and unknown corner of Iran's social history in the contemporary era. But the question on which this article was written is: What were the consequences of the occurrence of deadly diseases among cattle and domestic animals in Iran in the 1300s in different social, economic and political dimensions?

Methodology: In the article, the authors of these lines, based on the descriptive-analytical research method, and with an emphasis on analyzing the data of magazines and newspapers published at the same time and based on new documents of archival centers, which are mainly the correspondence of government officials with each other, or the requests of the affected people from the national authorities in this field, have been trying to answer the said question in the geographical area of Iran's borders, especially the central, northern and western regions of the country during the period of 1300 to 1307.

Findings, discussion and conclusion: The findings indicate that the social consequences of livestock losses can be analyzed from two dimensions. First, it caused an increase in livelihood problems for villagers and people working in the field of agricultural economy and animal husbandry, because domestic livestock, especially cows, played a very important role in the economic activities of the rural population of Iran. Second, this problem caused the transmission of infectious diseases to humans, and the dire state of public health was aggravated, because at that time, Iranian society was in a very inadequate state in terms of medical and treatment infrastructure. and the provision of health services in it was at a very low level. The economic consequence of the widespread death of domestic livestock is significant from four perspectives, one of these cases was a heavy blow to the field of agriculture and agriculture, because due to the traditional method of production, and in the absence of modern machinery in the field of agriculture, the role of cattle It played a key role in the process of planting and harvesting agricultural crops for the villagers, and this phenomenon of cattle destruction caused agriculture to be paralyzed in important parts of the country. The second case was the decrease in one of the government's important sources of income, because the severe economic pressure on farmers and financial damage to owners, which resulted in the loss of cattle, the government's tax income from the field of agriculture and animal husbandry faced an important obstacle. The third case is related to the method of animal husbandry production, because traditional animal husbandry was considered as one of the prominent sectors of the rural economy of Iran in that period of time, and these domestic livestock were considered the main source of protein products in the country. Therefore, it was natural that Iran's economy would suffer due to the widespread loss of cattle and the reduction of the country's heavy livestock population. The last consequence in the economic field is related to foreign trade and commerce, because in the absence of industrial production, and considering that underground resources such as oil and gas did not play a major and vital role in Iran's export portfolio during that period of time. Agricultural products, including the income from the export of animal products, played a prominent role in Iran's exports, which was affected by the spread of deadly livestock diseases in this area as well. In addition to the social and economic consequences, the death of cattle also had consequences in the political sphere, one of which made the representatives of the National Assembly, especially those representatives who faced this problem in their constituencies, to make serious efforts. in order to help the affected people, and to present plans in this field, secondly, the government tried to take measures to reduce the financial effects caused by the loss of cattle on the affected people. The creation of health and treatment infrastructures should be given serious attention in the backward society of Iran.

Keywords: Iran in the 1300s, animal diseases, Cows dying, consequences of cattle death.