Black Death In History

Even before one of the deadliest disease outbreaks ever started, Northwestern Europe was already in a rough position as the population was outgrowing the food production and the weather was either too cold or too hot for crops to grow. The Plague affected the Europeans in the late 1340s. The Bubonic Plague was one of the most deadly and widespread disease outbreaks in world history. Being a big part of world history, the Plague has also greatly impacted world history for both the good and the bad.

The Plague started out just as a mild stomach bug that wasn’t that big of a deal. This bug came from the bite of a rat or something smaller such as a flea so people couldn’t protect themselves from getting bit. There’s two types of Plagues. The bubonic plague and the pneumonic plague. The bubonic plague is a disease that people got from a flea or a rat bite, and the pneumonic plague is when someone gets a respiratory infection from inhaling bacteria. Although, the bubonic plague was more fatal than the pneumonic plague because the bubonic plague would kill people by infecting their bloodstream, while the pneumonic plague just causes a fatal pneumonia which is still very deadly but not as deadly as the bubonic plague.

Tanya Lewis from Business Insider states, “ The Yersinia pestis bacterium causes both bubonic plague, a form of the disease you get from a flea or rat bite, and pneumonic plague, a respiratory infection you get by inhaling the bacteria. Bubonic plague kills via a deadly blood infection, while pneumonic plague causes a fatal pneumonia.” This evidence explains how both of the plagues operate and how people got either one of them.

The Plague started in Europe and Asia in the mid-1300s. The plague reached Europe by 1347. 12 ships from the Black sea arrived at a dock in Europe, and when people surrounded the ship to dock it, they found that there were many sailors who were dead and many more sailors with the look of death in their eyes. There was blood and pus oozing everywhere from the sailors’ black boils surrounding their bodies that have already began to rot inside and out, as they were sure to be dead in only a matter of time. That one incident let the plague spread throughout all of Europe and Asia leading to the loss of life among more than 20 million innocent lives of men, women, and children.

(History.com ) states readers through the horrifying experiences people went through during the Black Death but also lets readers know about the history that goes with it and the first section of the article states, “The Black Death was a devastating global epidemic of bubonic plague that struck Europe and Asia in the mid-1300s. The plague arrived in Europe in October 1347, when 12 ships from the Black Sea docked at the Sicilian port of Messina. People gathered on the docks were met with a horrifying surprise: Most sailors aboard the ships were dead, and those still alive were gravely ill and covered in black boils that oozed blood and pus. Sicilian authorities hastily ordered the fleet of “death ships” out of the harbor, but it was too late: Over the next five years, the Black Death would kill more than 20 million people in Europe – almost one-third of the continent’s population.” This section of the article lets readers picture in their minds of how awful it must have been for those who were living during this time period and also gives readers facts about where it started and how deadly it became, as it spread all the way from Europe to Asia.

As most already know, the black death was very deadly and it was very rare to see someone survive it, but not a lot know about the exact numbers that come along with the history of how many people survived along with how many died. There is no actual percentage you can find on the internet about the likelihood of survival, but if there was it would be very low. After the age of the plague was over, only 20 percent lived past that time period. The plague killed roughly 75 to 200 million of Europe’s population which equals 30 to 50 percent of the population, gone. Stephanie Pappas, from Scientific American, writes an article on how deadly the plague actually was and states, “In the centuries after, more than 20 percent of people lived past that age. The Black Death, caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium, first exploded in Europe between 1347 and 1351. The estimated number of deaths ranges from 75 million to 200 million, or between 30 percent and 50 percent of Europe’s population.” This evidence gives great inside information that most people wouldn’t know about and uses other sources to prove their information is correct. Along with the great facts, the article also shows just how fatal the plague really was.

We have already discussed when the plague started, but now it’s time to tell about how it ended. The plague started to fade away during the early 1350s and eventually ended up dying completely in the mid 1350s. The disease lasted a total of three to five years, which is a very long time for this virus because of how many people it killed in such a short amount of time. The number one reason for what cause the plague to die, is winter. The winter helped kill off the main cause of the virus which were the fleas. The cold weather was too much for the fleas and a lot of them started to die off, and once the fleas are gone, no more humans or animals could be infected by the virus which lowers the chances of getting the virus. Of course they’re were still people getting infected by those who were still infected, but as time passed the disease finally wore off. There was still a disease that came from the aftermath of the plague. This disease is known as influenza. Influenza started at the end of World War l, and is still alive to this day. Although influenza was never and never will be as deadly and widespread as the Black Plague.

Ultimately , one can see that the plague was one of the most deadly widespread diseases in human history, but not everyone knows about the deep and scary details that go along with this outbreak. Readers can get a glimpse of just how awful this time period actually was and hopefully realize that we should be much more thankful for the world we are living in today, because we have it much better than those innocent people who suffered from loss and pain every single day.

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