Black Death Research Paper

1365 Words6 Pages
Dawnsheri Arroyo-Reyes Mr. Shipp Western Civilization I February 29, 2012 The Black Death of the 14th Century The Black Death, also known as the Great Dying, was one of the most mysterious, disastrous pestilence in history during the fourteenth century in Europe, killing more than one third of Europe’s population, estimated 20 million people in four years. Historians believed that the plague began in 1346 when the Mongolians attacked the Christians in Caffa, a trading route in the Black Sea. The Mongolians fought for Caffa in hopes that they would capture it as a trading route. They soon realized that they were fighting an unseen enemy, a pestilence that infested their soldiers. The Mongolians used another tactic. They…show more content…
“Infected rats must have left Kaffa (Caffa) on the Genoese ships. By the time the fleet reached Messina, all the crew were dead or dying; and the rats slipped unnoticed to the shore” (Altman 19). The Black Death had three known forms of the epidemic: bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic. The European population had not experienced disease before. They did not have the defenses in their immune system to resist a disease their body didn’t know of.The Black Death was best known as the bubonic plague, because the first known symptom of the victims who were infected with the epidemic complained of painful swelling of their groin and armpits. The plague didn’t discriminate against anyone. Men, women, and children, experienced first symptoms of lymph swelling followed by fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and chills. All these symptoms were contagious. In Linda Altman’s Plague and Pestilence A History of Infectious Disease, she refers to bubonic as “the painful lymph node swellings called buboes in the groin and armpits, which ooze pus and blood. Victims bleed under…show more content…
The overpopulation was due to the growth of trade and travel. The factors that led up the Black Death began when the Europeans experienced a famine in 1346. This led to malnutrition in people and animals. Europe did not have enough food to feed it’s own people. The change in climate and adverse weather conditions led to less agricultural productivity. The malnutrition led to the lack of antibodies people had in their immune system, therefore may have caused the Europeans to die more quickly. Poor sanitation was a major factor in the cities that led up to the contagious symptoms of the plague. The towns had no running water. Without running water, people didn’t bathe or wash their clothes. This was an ideal living nest for rats and fleas. Kris Hirschman author of Plagues quotes author James Cross Giblin “Because the cities had no running water; even the wealthy seldom washed their heavy clothing, or their own bodies. As a result, both rich and poor were prime targets for fleas and the diseases they carried” (Hirschman
Open Document