A "Damned Port": Yellow Fever Epidemics in Santos (1889-1895)

By the end of the nineteenth century, many tropical port cities were considered inhospitable to the European white man. This article aims to understand and contextualize the Brazilian city of Santos, in the state of Sao Paulo, as one of these ports referred to as "white man's grave". Using manuscript sources and periodicals, the article discusses a sanitary crisis between 1889 and 1895, making the paulista port a destination to be avoided and contextualizing it as a "damned port" to foreigners.