The Ismail quarantine and its role in the Danube sanitary cordon (1813-1856)

In the present study, we aim to establish how the Ismail quarantine was established and functioned and how its role evolved within the sanitary cordon at the mouth of the Danube in the period 1813-1856. Our research is based on the critical study of new archival sources, from the Bessarabian Governor’s Chancellery Fund (National Archives of the Republic of Moldova), representing in particular various reports addressed by the quarantine bodies to the military governor of Bessarabia, as well as orders that the latter received from the governor general of Novorossia and Bessarabia regarding the activity of the Danube quarantines in Bessarabia. As a result of studying the archival documentary sources, we can conclude that in the evolution of the quarantine in Ismail during the reference period, two stages can be distinguished, separated by the year 1830. In the first stage, it led a precarious existence, without investments and being reserved a secondary role within the Danube sanitary corridor. In the second stage, it regains its role as a central quarantine, and the government invests massively to build a quarantine that would meet the demands of the development of international trade.