From the Local to the Global: French Military Surgeons, Algeria, and "Tropical Pathologies" (1830-1880)

Up to the 1860s, understanding of the disease consists first of a reflection on the ground and the situation of people on this place. This includes the writing of medical topographies and the development of a new science: medical geography. How could extra-European territories contribute to this knowledge and how this knowledge about tropics and their pathologies could contribute to the formation of an epidemiological reflection at a global level? This contribution tries to suggest the role of military doctors in this process, the importance of Algeria in this intellectual training and, finally, how this work on the hot countries contributed to the structuring of a professional identity.