Quarantine ― Local and Global Histories

Over five centuries, a global archipelago of quarantine stations came to connect the world's oceans from the Mediterranean to the South Pacific, from Atlantic coasts to the Red Sea. In the process, great new carceral structures materialised, many surviving into the present as magnificent ruins or as 5 star hotels with a dark tourism edge.

This book offers new histories and geographies of quarantine islands and isolation hospitals across the world, bringing their local and global pasts and present into view. An international cast of leading experts examine the enduring historical problems of migration and mobility, segregation, prevention and protection by states with different interests in freedoms, health and commerce. With case studies from as far afield as the Red Sea, Hong Kong and New Zealand, and from the early modern period forward, this book provides an invaluable insight into the history of quarantine.

Alison Bashford is Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History at the University of Cambridge, UK. She was formerly Whitlam and Fraser Chair of Australian Studies at Harvard University, USA, where she taught the history of global health. She currently holds positions on many scholarly and publishing advisory boards in the UK, the US and Australia. Her many books have brought together medical history, world history and environmental history.