The Plague : The Great Plague

History reveals the mid-14th century as a very unfortunate time for Europe. It was during this period when the continent became afflicted by a terrible plague. The source of the pathogen is known today as bubonic but was colloquially known as “The Black Death” to Europeans of the day. The plague caused a tremendous number of deaths and was a catalyst of change, severely impacting Europe’s cultural, political and religious institutions.

The Black Death, also known as the Black Plague, was a rapid infectious outbreak that swept over Europe and Asia in the mid-1300s resulting in the death of millions of people. Tentatively, this disease started in the Eastern parts of Asia, and it eventually made its way over to Europe by way of trade routes. Fever and “dark despair” characterized this plague. The highly contagious sickness displayed many flu-like symptoms, and the victim’s lymph nodes would quickly become infected. The contamination resulted in a colossal and rapid spread of the disease within one person’s body. Due to the lack of medical knowledge and physicians, there was little that people could do to save those dying all around them. Now that a better understanding of

The plague was a catastrophic time in history, and happened more than once. It took millions and millions of people’s lives. It destroyed cities and countries, and many people suffered from it.

The Black Death was one of the worst pandemics in history. The disease ravaged Europe, Western Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa between 1346 and 1353 (Horrox 1994). It is difficult to understand the reality of such a devastating event, especially given the fact that science during the middle ages was severely underdeveloped. No one knew about bacteria, viruses, or other microbial agents of disease (Benedictow 2004). They had no way of protecting themselves during that time and no one was safe from the effects of the plague. Those who wrote chronicles claimed that only a tenth of the population had survived, while others claimed that half to a third of the population was left alive (Horrox 1994). In 1351, agents for Pope Clement VI predicted the number of deaths in Europe to be 23,840,000 (Gottfried 1983). Obviously, not all regions experienced the same mortality rates, but modern estimates of the death rate in England give the first outbreak a mortality rate of about forty-eight percent (Horrox 1994). That is, England lost half of its population in about a year and a half. Clearly the chroniclers ' who claimed that ninety percent of the population had died were overstating the magnitude of the plague, but this overemphasis demonstrates how terrifying the pandemic was to those who experienced it (Horrox 1994). The Black Death had huge consequences on the lives of those who were impacted directly, as well as major religious and cultural effects that came afterward.

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

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.

The Black Death, also known as the Bubonic plague, was a serious pandemic that killed more than one-third of Europe’s population. Between 1347-1352, the Black Death had “reportedly killed more than 20 million people.” The plague originated from Asia before traveling throughout Europe and the Mediterranean by fleas infested rats transported through ships. The infested ships had then landed in European ports such as the following: “Genoa, Venice, Messina, and other more.” Thus, the starting the pandemic by the spreading of the highly contagious bacterial infection disease around Europe along with their imports and exports.

It is impossible to discuss Europe’s history without mentioning the Plague of 1348, also known as the Black Death. The Black Death reached Italian shores in the spring of 1348. The presence of such a plague was enormously devastating making its mark in unprecedented numbers in recorded history. According to records, it is estimated to have killed a third of Europe’s population. The Black Death was caused by bacteria named Yersinia Pestis. This germ was transferred from rats to fleas and then to humans. This disease spread quickly due to the infestation of rats. Also, sanitary conditions were very poor which did not help the problem at all. When a human was infected, the bacteria moved from the bloodstream

This is the essay that I wrote for Geography. I noticed that I've only been blogging about what I've done, am doing, and plan on doing when I looked at some of my friend's blogs. I haven't really put up anything that I have written. I typed this up on Utah Write and got a perfect score of 30 on my first try. I was surprised with myself.

Let’s begin, in the year 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean and landed in america. That was the start of The Great Plague, see Columbus was from Italy and sailed with and english crew, so their immune systems were built to resist dangerous diseases, but just because it didn’t affect them doesn’t mean that it wasn’t there, so when they landed in ‘India’ and he saw the ‘Indians’, he passed on the still living plague on to them, and since they never encountered the plague they weren't built to resist it so they began to pass the plague on to other Natives and soon most of the population had the disease.

The pandemic known to history as the Black Death was one of the world’s worst natural disasters in history. It was a critical time for many as the plague hit Europe and “devastated the Western world from 1347 to 1351, killing 25%-50% of Europe’s population and causing or accelerating marked political, economic, social, and cultural changes.” The plague made an unforgettable impact on the history of the West. It is believed to have originated somewhere in the steppes of central Asia in the 1330s and then spread westwards along the caravan routes. It spread over Europe like a wildfire and left a devastating mark wherever it passed. In its first few weeks in Europe, it killed between 100 and 200 people per day. Furthermore, as the weather became colder, the plague worsened, escalating the mortality rate to as high as 750 deaths per day. By the spring of 1348, the death toll may have reached 1000 a day. One of the main reasons the plague spread so quickly and had such a devastating effect on Europe was ultimately due to the lack of medical knowledge during the medieval time period.

The black plague struck Europe from 1347 to 1351. The infected bacteria traveled through ships from China and Inner Asia to Europe then spread on land. From the devastating impact on the population, to the workings of the society, the impact of the plague was felt on all levels of the social order. The Black Death’s impact on society and the modern world is deep, and although there were many different effects, some had more importance than others. The most significant effects of the Black Death was the church’s shifting place in society, the weakening of feudalism, and the decline of manorialism due to the large effects on society.

The Black Death, also called the Bubonic Plague, is one of the worst epidemic diseases.The Black Death was introduced by ship-borne rats from Black Sea areas, and spread along the trade routes from Asia into Europe. Throughout the years there have been many epidemics of this disease in Europe. Decades of overpopulation, economic depression, famine, and bad health weakened Europe’s population and made it easy for an epidemic of the Black Death to get started. It is estimated that 25,000,000 Europeans died from this disease (Kagan, Ozmant, and Turner 317).

Around 1339 in the northwestern part of Europe, the human population was descending due to a numerous amount of reasons. Europe was struggling with food supply, economic crisis, weather conditions, and a horrific disease known as the Black Death. The Black Death was responsible for the majority of the population. This disease has several names, such as the Black Plague, the Bubonic Plague, and etc. This horrific disease originated from fleas that lived on rats. The Black Plague spread in several ways; pneumatically or systemically. The pneumatic version of the disease was formed in the lungs, allowing it to spread frequently and easily. The systemic form was spread by being in contact with an infected person’s blood. The Black Death killed more Europeans than any other endemic or war up to that time, greatly impacting depopulation, Church life, and economy. (The Black Death; Section 1)

The Great Plague killed nearly half of the European population during the fourteenth century. A plague is a widespread illness. The Illness was also known as the “Black Death”. Most of the European people believed the plague was the beginning of the end of the world. They were scarcely equipped and unready for what was to be entailed. It was by far one of the worst epidemics yet to be seen in those times.