The Spread Of The Black Death

Imagine one half of the world 's population by wiped out in a space of less than a ten years. You probably cannot imagine such an event occurring; it seems unreal. Yet, this very thing happened in the between the years 1347 and 1351 in Europe. This massive destruction of human life was known as the Black Death. This Black Death was an ecological disaster on a global scale. The effects of the plague on human and certain animal populations from East Asia to as far west as Greenland were catastrophic. All facets of society, from peasant to king were affected; no one was safe. All of society was affected; nothing would ever be the same. Thus, there were many economic, social, and political effects of the Black Death.

Population went down. When the Black Death got out it is spreading until there was no more people to get. When suddenly Christians and Muslims had different ways to try to prevent it. They both had different religions to practice.

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 changed everything about life in the European world. Politics were affected23 by the plague. Politicians were not showing up to important things and some were passing away. This made politics a very hard thing to handle during this thime. The economy was in a tough situation. Inflation was out of hand and taxes weren’t being paid. This made the economy crash. The plague caused cultural reprocussions24. Society was losing its traditions and moral values. The plague casted a shadow over the beliefs of the European people. They couldn’t communicate and live the ways they used to because they were so secluded from one another. The communication between other had almost vanished at this point in time. Once again, the art began to be dark and gloomy26 to represent the struggle everyone was facing. Skeletons filled the canvas of painting to express the everyday deaths of hundreds of people. The church had lost most of its believers27. Everyone blamed the church for the death and pain. There was no reason to go to church because they could nothing to help. Through these things, European people were shaken and

Access to health care is a recent social commodity. During the times of the Black Plague the general population did not have access to health care or the means to pay for medication of medical attention. Only individuals with wealth could afford to live with such a luxury. The rest of the general population was left to contract a horrible disease and fend for themselves. Some of the things that the Black Plague would do to the human body were most likely accompanied by immense pain. The lymph glands would swell and turn into lymph nodes, which are large and painful bumps. Also, a bacteria known as Yersinia Pestis is believed to be the cause of plague. This bacteria causes healthy tissue to slowly deteriorate and eventually die. The dead and dying tissue turns black. This side effect is what gives the disease its name.

The Black Plague which was also known as The Black Death, first originated in Asia and spread across to the shores of Italy during October 1346. It is believed that the Black Death arrived in Europe with trading ships that arrived at the Sicilian port of Messina. Most of the people on board these ships were already dead, with others terribly ill. Many sailors had black boils on their body that were full of pus and blood. By the time the sickness was discovered by the authorities it was already too late because the disease had started to spread rapidly all around Europe.

The Black Death consisted mainly of Bubonic plague, but the pneumonic plague was also present in the epidemic. Symptoms of the Bubonic plague included high

The Black Death was an outbreak of one of the most terrible pandemics in human history, sweeping through the world, clearing thousands of settlements and turning them into 'ghost towns'. The name "Black Death" does not refer to the entire worldwide event, but refers to the outbreaks of the plague in Europe, which started in about 1346. Throught the years after 1346, the Black Death completely ravaged Europe, and turned it into a chaotic place, until the Black Death left Europe (possibly because there were not enough human hosts). By then, it had then killed around an estimated 70 million - 200 million people, about half of Europe's population, changing the history of Europe and the entire world forever.

The bubonic plague was the most commonly seen form of the Black Death. The symptoms of the bubonic plague were swellings called buboes, much like tumors, and dried blood under the skin that appeared black. These buboes appeared on the neck, groin, and armpits of the victim’s body. The term "bubonic" refers to the characteristic bubo or enlarged lymphatic gland. Victims were subject to headaches, nausea, aching joints, fever of 101-105 degrees, vomiting, and a general feeling of illness. Symptoms took from 1-7 days to appear.

The Black Death was the name given to a plague that occurred in the mid 13th century which caused at least a third of the world’s population to perish. During the years in which the plague spread across Europe, many aspects of life for the people that lived were altered forever. This epidemic was like no other in history and had an unprecedented outcome. The effects of the Black Plague on society were substantial resulting in great changes of social classes through role reorganization, changes in belief systems, and ways that society interacted.

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

People infected with the plague, their skin would turn black, and the mentioned boils would form. Blood and pus came out of these boils, and anyone infected could have fevers, chills, vomiting, diarrhea, aches and pains, and soon after, death.

Black death was caused by rats and rat fleas. A rat flea lives off of blood from small mammals and sometimes but humans. If a rat flea were to bite an infected rat and a human afterwards, the human would become infected, and possibly die from the disease. Symptoms of the plague included but were not limited to fever, Bubos(large painful boils) and headaches. In the later stages the person would develop black and purple blotches all over their skin, and also cough up pus and blood. The disease traveled through blood, so once the sickness reached their lungs symptoms would only get worse, and most likely lead to death.

The Black plague was a nasty thing. There were two different versions of it. The Bubonic plague infected bodies with painful puss filled sores. The other more lethal and contagious Pneumonic plague attacked the lungs making breathing hard and often made the infected cough up blood. It lasted for about a week ending most often in death, but some did make the miraculous

The people of London pleaded to parliament to do something to combat the spread of the plague but with no avail. The citizens themselves were no help either, by continuously throwing their garbage and sewer in the streets, and having constant contact with each other. The plague kept on spreading and by the spring of 1349, the Black Death have killed 6 in every 10 Londoners. The Chronicler Boccaccio describes victims of the Black Plague as a death sentence of 2-7 days because it was an inevitable outcome. People infected with the disease had symptoms such as high fever, swelling of the lymph nodes and delirium. The Decameron of Geovanni Boccacio's, explained “the emergence of certain tumours in the groin or armpits, some of which grew as large as a common apple, ….after which the form of the malady began to change, black spots or livid making their appearance in many cases on the arm or the thigh.” These symptoms were common among everyone that contracted the disease and it resulted in harsh treatment from their peers. Many were kicked out from their homes and left to wonder the streets as beggars or