The Black Plague

Many people can die from the Bubonic plague if it is left untreated (Plague Occurs in U.S., But is Treatable). If the Bubonic plague is left untreated, it can kill up to sixty percent of its victims (Dobson 8). Eighty percent of infected persons die from the Bubonic plague (Benedictow). By the nineteenth century, The Bubonic plague had killed roughly 100,000 people (“Black Death”). When the Bubonic plague hit Marseilles, France, it killed 50,000 people (Dobson 16).

The Black Death was a pandemic of plague that swept through Europe during the years of 1346-1353 (Benedictow). The plague is a disease that is caused by a bacteria called Yersinia pestis. This bacteria commonly infects rats and other rodents and is most often transmitted to humans by fleas that feed on the infected rats and then feed on humans (CDC). Rats are common, unwanted companions in large urban areas and more importantly, on ships. There are conflicting theories on where the plague that caused the Black Death pandemic originated from, but most agree on the location where the plague first started its journey to Europe.

The plague then started to infect thousands and thousands until 35% of Europe’s population was deceased. This reduced the world population in total to seventy-five to one hundred million people. Massive loss of life was caused. For a short time war stopped and trade declined. Many of the serfs died, so the remaining ones demanded higher wages.

Change in European Understanding of Plague in the 1348 versus 1352 Known as the “Black Death,” one of the most devastating plague pandemic wiped out approximately 30 to 60 percent of the European population, peaking in between 1348 and 1350 . It caused massive religious, social, and economic, upheaval in the European society causing great changes in the European culture and lifestyle1. Finally, when after three and a half years the first wave passed in 1351, it spared few regions causing devastation in towns, rural communities, families, and religious institutions . The plague was reportedly first introduced to Europe via the ports of Caffa and Sicily in 1347, when several Italian merchant ships returned from a trip to the Black Sea, one of the key links in trade with China . The disease was spread by the vector Rattus rattus and transmitted to people by the fleas.

How many people really die in a genocide? The answer, millions. The Holocaust, Rwandan Genocide, and Armenian Genocide are among the many genocides which have killed a countless number of people. The Holocaust, one of the biggest genocides in the world killed around 5,900,000 to 11,000,000. The Rwandan Genocide killed from 500,000 to 1,000,000 people, while the Armenian Genocide killed 800,000 to 180,000.

As the Black Death traveled through Europe, it left thousands dead.From 1315 to 1322, the Great Famine caused starvation and death, weakening Europe’s population. Once the Black Death came into

By the end of the fourteenth century, the Black Death killed nearly 60% of Europe’s population. First arriving in Europe through sick merchants on Genoese trading ships that docked in Sicily, the plague caused boils, fever, diarrhea, horrible pain, and shortly, death. No one was sure how the Death spread, and this combined with the fast course the disease took and the primitive medical practices of the time allowed for the disease to spread through the continent in devastating time. It only took about twenty-three days from the point of infection for the plague to be fatal (Benedictow). The Black Death spread extensively through Europe, affecting both nobility and peasants.

In the history of Europe, the Black Death or the Great Mortality has always been one of the most significant and destructive natural disaster, it was so pernicious that it had killed about 25% to 50% of the population in only four years. Most people in Europe did not have the resistance to the plague because it was originated in Asia, the trades between Asia and Europe carried flea-infested rats, as a result, disease like bubonic plague was brought to Europe for the first time. Due to the trades, the plague spread all over Europe very quickly in the mid-fourteenth century. The Black Death was momentous not only because of its significantly high death rate, but also for its impact on European society, economy, and politics. Once the plague broke out and shown its threat, people in the society began living for the moment, some threw themselves with unrestraint into sexual and alcoholic binge, while the wealthy and powerful people fled to their country estate trying to evade the plague.

The “Black Death” or bubonic plague that occurred in the middle ages, precisely about 1347 to 1351, was a catastrophic plague, or severe illness, that traveled to Europe and infected and killed at least 25 million people. Unfortunately for the Europeans at that time, there was no medical knowledge to cope with this disease. Ultimately, what made this plague so deadly was that the symptoms were fatal and it spread very quickly. In today’s time, the bubonic plague is easily treatable and the symptoms are not severe. But in the middle ages, little medical knowledge of this plague made these symptoms extremely severe and most likely lethal.

Ring around the rosie, a pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, ⅓ of Europe got obliterated by the black plague. The black plague, also called the Black Death, began in East Asia then traveled to Europe . The disease was carried by rats & it caused fever, developed lesions, and death within a few days of having it. The citizens in Europe, at the time, were unaware of what the cause of the plague was, leading to many different responses. Europeans had reacted in various ways towards the black plague like using it as a means to collect money, strengthen beliefs, & causing deaths.

A vile and putrid plague eradicated almost half of Europe during the Middle Ages. This plague is known as the Bubonic Plague, more commonly known as the Black Plague, or the Black Death. The Bubonic Plague, which ravaged Europe during the Middle Ages, negatively impacted society due to its extreme fatality rates which eradicated almost half of Europe’s population. While it showed up multiple times in history,. The Black Plague is a foul disease that showed up as early as 430 B.C.

When the Africans were being conquered some scholars believe that 20 million people in North Africa in the Middle Ages died. 95 percent were killed by disease or war; virtually emptied of it’s people. Germs were perhaps the most gruesome force to shape the history of our world. Everywhere it spread a wide epidemic of death spread. This is why Jared Diamond believes germs were such an important part of creating our

The Spanish influenza outbreak in 1918 killed about 50 million people. Though it was small in scale compared to the Black Death, but it caused just as much panic. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS, has become an epidemic in recent years. Interestingly enough, there is a possible relation between HIV and the plague. Scientists have found a genetic mutation in people who have ancestors who contracted the plague during the outbreak in the 1440s and survived.

The Black Death was a very rough time and harmful, with the population dropping 1/3, having the economy being poor because of inflation, and people being afraid to walk to streets, The Black Death or what scientist call it “The Bubonic Plague”. This tragedy started around 1347‐ 1352 A.D, originating from East Asia or China .This disease was brought by the sea from ships, and on the ship was black rats and fleas were carrying it and it was passed down to the rats. These rodents spread the Bubonic plague from China to Europe and lastly, it hit Britain in 1348. The Black Death caused the prices to skyrocket this was also known as inflation. “So, caught between rising production costs and falling revenue, middle‐class lords tried to force a price‐freeze and, when they couldn 't, many gave up and sold their estates.” What this means is that as workers quit their jobs to try and stay safe and now the prices

The Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black Plague or the Black Death, ravaged Medieval Europe between 1347 and the early 1350’s. The Plague is caused by bacteria called Yersinia pestis, which lives in rats. Fleas fed on rats then bit people, spreading the plague. The exact origin of the plague remains unknown, however, it is known that the Bubonic Plague traveled to Europe via Genoese trading ships. When the ship docked in Messina the citizens who prepared to greet the sailors were met with twelve ships full of dead or dying sailors.