TY - JOUR
T1 - Culling the herds?
T2 - Regional divergences in rinderpest mortality in flanders and South Holland, 1769-1785
AU - Van Roosbroeck, Filip
AU - Sundberg, Adam
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements : We are indebted to Dr. Norbert Weiss for helpful advice and to Mrs. Gabriele Willig for excellent technical assistance. The work was supported by the Minister fiir Forschung und Technologie through Gesellschaft fiir Biotechnologische Forschung, Braunschweig-Stockheim, contract Nr. GBF 83/02.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - The cattle disease rinderpest devastated Europe throughout the eighteenth century. The practice of preventative slaughter, or stamping out, has been seen as the most effective method of containing the disease. Historians frame this strategy as a measure of the effectiveness of centralized bureaucracy in handling epidemic outbreaks. The Austrian Netherlands, which enacted a stamping out policy during the rinderpest epidemic of 1769-1785, is often cast opposite the decentralized Dutch Republic, which did not. That mortality was more severe in Holland than in Flanders is interpreted as a consequence of this difference. This article compares the disease management of Flanders and South Holland as well as the differential mortality of cattle in the initial years of the outbreak. We argue that stamping out should not be used as the standard for evaluating effective management. Both South Holland and Flanders relied on a high degree of state intervention. No strategies were universally effective. Explanations must be sought in regional socio-ecological structures. Rather than a consequence of state action or inaction, rinderpest mortality responded to the movement of cattle for pasturing and trade, structural differences in land use, and the resultant divergences in agricultural practices and herd management. Rather than state intervention, extensive commercial cattleholding explains the highly variable mortality.
AB - The cattle disease rinderpest devastated Europe throughout the eighteenth century. The practice of preventative slaughter, or stamping out, has been seen as the most effective method of containing the disease. Historians frame this strategy as a measure of the effectiveness of centralized bureaucracy in handling epidemic outbreaks. The Austrian Netherlands, which enacted a stamping out policy during the rinderpest epidemic of 1769-1785, is often cast opposite the decentralized Dutch Republic, which did not. That mortality was more severe in Holland than in Flanders is interpreted as a consequence of this difference. This article compares the disease management of Flanders and South Holland as well as the differential mortality of cattle in the initial years of the outbreak. We argue that stamping out should not be used as the standard for evaluating effective management. Both South Holland and Flanders relied on a high degree of state intervention. No strategies were universally effective. Explanations must be sought in regional socio-ecological structures. Rather than a consequence of state action or inaction, rinderpest mortality responded to the movement of cattle for pasturing and trade, structural differences in land use, and the resultant divergences in agricultural practices and herd management. Rather than state intervention, extensive commercial cattleholding explains the highly variable mortality.
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U2 - 10.18352/tseg.962
DO - 10.18352/tseg.962
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85040826950
VL - 14
SP - 31
EP - 55
JO - Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis
JF - Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis
SN - 1572-1701
IS - 3
ER -