The Bubonic Plaque: The Black Death





James L. Myers
Professor Fike
World Civilizations
22 July 2012
The Black Death: The Bubonic Plaque of 1300-1400. The Bubonic Plaque, also known as the Black Death has had a profound effect on human history since the ancient times. The Black Death is a highly contagious disease that causes death within one to three days of contracting it, depending on which type a person has. It can be air born or can spread to humans through fleas that have bitten black rats that are infected with the Bubonic Plaque. When a human comes in contact with the fleas and rats that are infected and are bitten by these infected animals, they also become infected. The Mongols clan believe it was the vast trading that occurred…show more content…
These black rats like to live near or in human housing. This highly contagious infection is spread to humans by fleas that are biting the black rats and contracting the infection. The infected flea then bites a human and leaves the infection in the flea bites. When an over populated area of black rats becomes more over populated this can be another cause of the spread of the Black plaque faster. The growth of population in cities and small towns tend to lead to decline in living conditions, thus leading to famine and epidemics causing more cases if the Black Plaque. (Wiesner) The Mongol people thought that traders helped in the spreading of the Black Death faster than normal by the trading they did with other traders and countries. The traders would load their goods up to be traded, not realizing that the goods were full of infected fleas. When they traded their goods with other traders and countries, they were leaving behind the infected fleas to infect the people, and black rats in other countries. This is a vicious cycle and one reason why this epidemic became a pandemic so quickly. (Wiesner) The Medical professionals believed that strong winds could have also caused…show more content…
They also believed that the sandy, high winds were one of the many causes that spread the Black Death across so many countries. An Arab doctor’s medical perspective on the Black Death was that
“it was an infection, confirmed by experience, research, insight and observation and through constantly recurring accounts. There are elements of proof, a man comes in contact with a person who has the plaque and he dies. Another man comes in contact with a man who does not have the plaque and he lives.” Here is the proof, per this doctor. “People become the vessel in which the disease is housed. Whomever comes into contact with this individual will then become infected and then spread this infection to whomever they come into contact with. This is how whole towns and cities were destroyed by the Black Death.” (Wiesner) Inb Khaldun is an Islamic religious man, who believed that the main reason for the Black Death is the corruption of air, through too large of a population in a certain area. It results from the many evil moistures that air has contact with in a dense population. When air is