Essays on Black Death

1346 - 1353

Eurasia, North Africa

The Pestilence, the Great Mortality, the Plague.

The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Afro-Eurasia, and became the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history. The Black Death had profound effects on the course of European history.

The Black Death is believed to have been the result of plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, but it may also cause septicaemic or pneumonic plagues. The disease was likely transmitted from rodents to humans by the bite of infected fleas. The Definitive appearance of the Black Death was in Crimea in 1347 and reached southern England in 1348.

Yersinia pestis causes three types of plague in humans: bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic, and it is likely that all three played some role in the pandemic. The Bubonic Plague causes fever, chills, vomiting, diarrhea, terrible aches and pains. Also, it attacks the lymphatic system, causing swelling in the lymph nodes. The disease was also terrifyingly progressive, people who went to bed at night could be dead by morning. The bacillus travels from person to person through the air.

The Black Death estimated to have killed 30 percent to 60 percent of the European population. The bacterial infection still occurs but can be treated with antibiotics. The Black Death had profound effects on the course of European history.