The Plague In Nineteenth Century Europe

The black plague, also known as the bubonic plague, swept its way across Europe beginning in 1346 A.D. , killing an estimated thirty to fifty percent of the total population. The plague was spread by fleas infected with Yersinia pestis, and was carried over oceans by hitchhiking rats and pet gerbils. The plague outbreak that decimated the population was transported by infected Christian merchants

In the year 1348 the world changed forever. The Black Death, which is another name for the Bubonic Plague, laid havoc on the entire world. “The plague chases the screaming without pity and does not accept a treasure for a ransom. Its engine is far-reaching. The plague enters into the house and swears it will not leave except with all of its inhabitants…” (Al-Wardi, #29, 113). The plague did not care if the people were rich, poor, white, black, Muslim or Catholic, it would kill whomever it could. The plague brought out the worst in people because people acted selfishly, people were completely inhumane, and there was no peace.

The Black Death was one of the most life-changing pandemics in history. It was first discovered 550 years later in the 1800s by Alexandre Yersin, a french biologist. In his honor, the plague was named Yersinia Pestis. The plague traveled in two major ways. Yersin discovered that it traveled by infected fleas; the flea would attempt to feed on a human or animal and would then regurgitate the disease into the new host, further spreading the illness. Urban areas across Europe were populous with rats, which were one of the main hosts of the plague. These rodents spread the Black Death throughout cities in days. The unaffected still were not safe if they did not come in contact with an infected flea or rat. The plague also traveled pneumonically, or through the air. It caused large boils full of blood and pus, which would pop and spread. Another symptom was coughing, which was one of the many ways of proliferation. The disease eventually spread throughout Europe and killed a third of it’s population. It’s wrath caused many shortages, loss in hope, riots, and even some good things, such as many changes in art, science, and education. Therefore, the Black Death was one of the most life-changing pandemics in history.

From the Mediterranean, the Bubonic plague spread along the Indian Ocean and from the Indian Ocean, it spread to China. As the Bubonic plague spread to China, it became very easy to keep spreading along the Silk Road, and eventually hit Europe where the deadliest “Black Death” occurred in 1347. This plague killed approximately 25-35 million people, which made up a third of the human population. This whole thing began when the Mongols launched an attack on the Italian merchant’s last trading station in the region. Then in 1346, plague broke out among the besiegers and from them entered into the town. Later attempting to flee the plague, the Italian merchants fled to their ships, unknowingly carrying the diseases with them. The diseases were also spread from place to place by fleas on rats, or other kinds of rodents who traveled along these trade routes. The Indian Ocean and Silk Road are similar in that the Bubonic Plague spread throughout both trade networks because since trade was very popular and happened all the time, people unknowingly would catch the disease from one place, only to be spreading it to their next stop, causing it to spread across the regions very

The Black Death, also known as the bubonic plague, was a disease that devastated Medieval Europe, between 1346 and 1352 it killed 45 million people, wiping out a third of Europe's population. Today, we know that there were many causes of the Black Death. Medieval towns had no system of drains, sewers or trash collections. In such slovenly conditions, germs could grow, and diseased rats could call these medieval towns their homes and infect the people who lived there. Many historians believed the plague originated in china and spread to other countries by trade routes. Infected people and/or infected rodents such as mice or black rats. The Black Death was caused by strains of the bubonic plague. The plague lived in fleas, and fleas lived on

The plague, otherwise known as “the Black Death”, brought on much turmoil and suffering for the habitants of Pistoia. Numerous ordinances were put into effect with the primary goal of limiting the spread of the plague as well as to keep the city as healthy as possible. These ordinances typically focused on confinement, i.e. no one goes to Pisa and Luca and no one from Pisa and Luca is allowed to enter Pistoia (ordinance 1), how death and burials are to be processed (ordinances 3-12), and how butchers were to handle their animals and animal carcasses (ordinances 13-19). Essentially, confinement was targeted in hopes of stopping the spread of the infection while keeping the city isolated. Secondly, how the bodies of plague victims and their

From 1347 to 1352 a string of the bubonic plague lay waste to western Europe, killing millions. In Italy, nearly a third of the population died; in England, half. The plague was a looming presence, always in the back of people’s minds. The symptoms of the Black Death caused great strife for westerners. Giovanni Boccaccio, an Italian writer and poet, described the symptoms he saw during the first outbreak of the plague: “Not such were they as in the East, where an issue of blood from the nose was a manifest sign of inevitable death; but in men a women alike it first betrayed itself by the emergence of certain tumors in the groin or the armpits, some of which grew as large as a common apple, others as an egg, some more, some less, which the common folk called gavoccioli.” Both Italy and England desperately searched for answers, claiming that the Black Death was the cause of a higher force, but realising that the squalor of their countries also played a part in spreading the illness. Although Italy and England both had a common explanation for the cause of the plague and they both implemented better public health standards, they adopted different public health practices after the plague.

Pursell The Black Death Reassessed What really happened to Europe during Black Death? For years, the accepted version of the event has been that a plague from the East, carried by rodents who were infected by fleas, traveled by trade routes and subsequently infected Europeans. The name of this plague is infamously known as the Bubonic Plague; it’s said to have claimed the lives of a third of the continent’s population. Not everyone accepts the prominent version of this event though. In this essay, we will read of two scholars who dispute the official narrative of the Bubonic plague; one scholar will apply this revisionism solely to England, whereas the other will look at Europe as a whole. Moreover, death toll estimates will be scrutinized too. In addition, we will read of a third scholar who offers insight into the aftermath of the Black Death in England in terms of its social and economic development. Clearly, something devastating struck Europe in the 14th century. Whatever it was might not ever be exactly known. However, for the sake of understanding its true impact upon European society, it’s worth reassessing this long-held account. In his writing, The Black Death:

All throughout history nations all over the world have dealt with deadly diseases, but one in particular brought out the fear in the nations of Europe, the bubonic plague or as others call it, the black death. During the thirteenth century, medicine was not as developed as it is now, causing England to suffer more than others. According to Cantor (2002) the European nations encountered the bubonic plague in its most brutal state during 1348 to 1349, taking out about a third of Europe’s population (pp. 6-7). He continues on by claiming that one big question to this event was whether or not the plague was the full cause to the loss of lives or if there was another cause along with it (p. 11). Cantor (2002) also explained that the reason the black plague stopped in Europe around the eighteenth century could possibly have been from an introduction to a new species of rats, the gray rat (p. 13). Even though there is controversy based around the plague being spread by rats and how it was stopped by isolation, it may have taught countries useful strategies and ways to grow stronger.

Diseases have always been a threat to humans, all throughout history. One of the most destructive disease outbreaks in history was the plague outbreak which peaked in 1346 to 1353, in Europe, commonly known as the Black Death. This plague outbreak was extremely deadly and killed 30-60% of the European population at the time of the outbreak. The outbreak is commonly believed to have been caused by the bubonic plague, but modern evidence suggests that the Black Death was caused by pneumonic plague, a much more contagious and deadly infection.

Sickness times a thousand equals the Black Death. In our world, many disasters have occurred, causing terrible damage emotionally, physically, and mentally. However, I believe that the Black Death is the worst disaster to have occurred throughout our world’s history. It all started in 1348, when trading ships from different countries around Europe settled at the port of Messina, Sicily. Once the ship dropped their anchor many of their sailors were found dead, and the few surviving carried with them the deadly disease so dangerous that it would quickly lead to death. Scientists researched and concluded that the disease started from Central Asia (Mongolia), when fleas on rats boarded the many ships from Europe. The fleas got on the sailors’ skin and started killing them instantly. However, many thought that the disease had originated from the Far East and was spread along many major trade routes. When the people of Sicily finally started finding out what was causing the death, they closed their port and trading system with other countries. (Wikipedia) The ships were forced to anchor somewhere else in other countries, which allowed the disease to spread even more quickly. I believe that the Black Plague was a disastrous event that affected all aspects and the future of European and Central Asian society, their political and economic environment, and their future advancement to medicine.

The Black Plague or Black Death was an outbreak of a disease that was spread through rats, feces, fleas, and physical contact. The epidemic began in China, where, during wars, soldiers hurled infected bodies at Italian soldiers, consequently the physical contact. The Italians would go back home on their ships, which was infested with rats and fleas. Unknowingly, they would spread the newfound disease amongst those they came into contact with when they returned to Italy. In the spring of 1348, the disease reached Italy and began to spread like wildfire. Three years later, the Plague had already taken 25%-50% of Europe’s population. The Black Plague was so devastating due to the ignorance of it, trade routes, and fear.

The Plague was a severe outbreak of bacterium Yersinia pestis in the 1300’s and the 1800’s. Killing 25 million people in the 14th century alone it became one of Europe's most grim times in history. The Plague caused people to flee their homes in fear of catching the Black Death. The outbreak began in Peking, China otherwise known as modern day Beijing, capital of China. The disease ended out around 1350, but still had no medically accurate way of treating the disease.

The Black Plague originated in China ("Europe’s Plagues Came from China, Study Finds."). There is no specific reason as to why it originated in China, except that the bacteria depended on the marmots and voles that thrived there ("Europe’s Plagues Came from China, Study Finds."). This disease spread to humans mostly through the bite of a household flea that had picked up the bacteria from an infected household rat (Hanawalt, 28). During this time, once you had the plague it was considered a death sentence

The origins of the Black Death can be traced back to the Gobi desert in the 1320’s. No one really knows the sudden eruption of the plague, however from the desert it spread in all directions. One direction of great importance was going east towards China. China had started to suffer the Black Death during the 1330’s, this time is significant because amidst the High middle ages, trade expansion was going great, strengthening trade with Europe and Asia. With trade, ships were a key factor in spreading the disease between the continents. The rats carrying the disease known as bacterium Yersinia Pestis on the ships. These “death ships” arrived in 1347 in the Sicilian port of Messina, after a protracted amount of time sailing the Black Sea, when the people came to greet them, all