The Black Death was an outbreak of bubonic plague, which is a highly contagious bacterial infection and disease. The Bubonic Plague spread across Europe in the years 1346-53. 25% of the European population was wiped out by the disease. People knew when they had the black plague, when the symptoms started to show. The black plague came to Europe from Asia, and had social and economic effects on Medieval Europe. The black plague had several progressing symptoms. A person may have certain swellings on the groin, or under their arm. The swellings were lumps that grew to the size of a small apple or egg. The bumps often changed to a black or purple color. Some survived the disease, but many died within a week. At the time of the outbreak …show more content…
The plague started in Asia. At first places such as China, Syria, and India were affected by the disease. It came to Europe by trade routes from India (where the outbreak was at the time). In response to hunger pangs fleas feed off of rodents (rats), and gave them the disease. When the rats were all dead, the fleas went to humans. Fleas were on the trade routes to Europe, where they brought and spread the plague. Poor living conditions in Medieval towns; such as Bristol, helped the Black Plague flourish. People would empty chamber pots out of their windows and into the streets. They didn’t realize the consequences of doing that. Bristol was a large city, and was a major trading route. It was a small place with many people living tightly together. With the unsanitary conditions, it is no surprise that they were one of the places hi hardest with the plague. The Black Plague had already killed 30-45% of the population between the years 1348-50. The plague caused both social and economic problems. The workforce was completely destroyed. Farms were abandoned and buildings were crumbled. The price of labor increased greatly because of worker shortage, and the cost of goods rose. However, the price of food did not go up because the population had
The disease was spread by the vector Rattus rattus and transmitted to people by the fleas. This organism was not new to the world in the fourteenth century, as Europe had experienced the Justinian plague in 542 AD . However, the people of Europe did not have any natural immunity or understanding of the disease caused by a bacterium Yersinia pestis. The people became aware of the relationship between rat and fleas only in late nineteenth century .
The Bubonic Plague also known as the Black Death first appeared in England around 1347 AD. This horrible plague was spread by mainly by fleas. These fleas would live on animals such as sheep, cows, horses, and rats. The Black Death even impacted well known poet and playwright William Shakespeare. Due to this disease, Shakespeare lost his sisters, brothers, and his one and only son.
It spread rampant among the trade routes to Constaninople and Europe. It claimed the lives of close to sixty percent of the European population. The massive labor shortages are is what to be said what helped boost the emergence of the Renaissance in the 14th century. The Modern Plague also began in China in 1860 in Hong Kong. In just twenty years it had spread to port cities by rats on steamships.
The Bubonic Plague, is a disease that is caused by Yersinia pestis. This bacteria is found in rodents, such as rats. Fleas feed on these rats, and it can be passed to humans through flea bites. The Bubonic Plague was first seen in China, yet it came to Europe in the year 1347 with the use of Genoise Ships. These ships would bring the contaminated rats across the Black Sea.
The Black Death ravaged over 20 million people in China, India, Persia, Syria and Egypt during the early 1340’s. Most of these people were in Europe; this was over ⅓ of the population at the time (“BLACK PLAGUE”). This was the First Pandemic of the Bubonic Plague, killing far more than any Pandemic to follow it. Given the knowledge of medicine and science during this era, the Black Plague spread like wildfire, and caused many hideous symptoms which led to several ineffective treatments. Luckily, scientists and doctors worked together to create a cure, and while the Bubonic Plague does still infect people to this day, the wave that killed countless Europeans died out by 1400 (“IN THE WAKE OF THE PLAGUE:
Because there was no system of drains or sewers, a dirty environment was formed and bacteria began to grow on fleas. The fleas would attach themselves to rats, and the rats would
The historical pandemic of the Black Death (1347-1352), which killed 25 million people, greatly impacted the European history of the Middle Ages. Originating from China and Inner Asia, the infection of the bacterium Yersinia pestis had widely spread, rapidly infecting those who encounter the infected. The main cause of the spread derived from flea-infected rats on boats or the fleas on the bodies and clothes of the travellers. People at the time had limited understanding of the world, so they believed that the Black Death had an association with supernatural forces such as God’s punishment for sin and demonic acts, along with performing medical procedures that were futile for the disease. The era was highly affected by the plague,
It began with “swellings in the groin and armpit, then eventually spread across the whole body.” Then “dark
Because of the high wages, people had more money to spend on themselves, which forced industries to meet that demand. This overall lost money for
The Bubonic Plague (Black Death) came to the eastern Mediterranean along the shipping routs. It reached Italy in spring of 1348. By the time the disease spread between 25% and 50% of Europes population had died (document 1, (Source: EyeWitnesstoHistory.com) the Bubonic Plague was spread because in this time there was not any place to put garbage and wast products like we have today, so they would just leave the trash/wast anywhere and everywhere and the result of this would bring rats and many other animals, and with these animals they had fleas and eventually the fleas would get to the people and the humans would get sick and spread it to everyone. Some symptoms of the Bubonic Plague were large swelling lumps which they called "buboes" sizing
These fleas would then jump from rats in which they fed off of onto humans. When bitten by one of these infected fleas the plague would transfer into the bloodstream of a victim and transfer the deadly virus to the new host. Once the virus reached the lungs the
Economic and Social Consequences of the Black Death The Black Death was no modest disease it swept all over Europe during the dark ages , had immense and annihilating effects and is in fact one of the most disastrous and destructive pandemics in human history. It rapidly spread through Medieval Europe during 1347-1351 killing more than one third of the population. In the midst of Italy’s overpopulated cities 50 to 60 percent of the population died while villages were completely swept of their people in England and Germany (Spielvogel World History and Geography 248-249). The Black did not only bring the tragedy of killing millions but it also came with many consequences such as economic inflation and extreme social distinction ("Social and Economic Effects of the Plague").After the intense shock of the Black Death, Europe’s economically declined, its internal affair were instable and its social systems
With years much of the population was dying. 2. The symptoms of the Bubonic Plague or known as the Black Death killed many people as it started to spread around Europe. The plague lived in the stomach of the flea which rats had and
During the mid-fourteenth century, a plague hit Europe. Initially spreading through rats and subsequently fleas, it killed at least one-third of the population of Europe and continued intermittently until the 18th century. There was no known cure at the time, and the bacteria spread very quickly and would kill an infected person within two days, which led to structural public policies, religious, and medical changes in Europe. The plague had an enormous social effect, killing much of the population and encouraging new health reforms, it also had religious effects by attracting the attention of the Catholic Church, and lastly, it affected the trade around Europe, limiting the transportation of goods. As a response to the plague that took place
It was the Spring of 1348, and the citizens of Europe were malnourished due to limited food supplies for such a large population. This made them more susceptible to the outbreak of the Black Death. The Black Death originated in Asia, then moved westward into Sicily. From Sicily, the plague crept its way up through Europe infecting millions of people, in total killing more than one third of Europe’s population. In fact, over fifty percent of the population of Siena died, along with fifty percent of Paris, eighty percent of Florence, and over two thirds of Venice.