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The Black Death. How did it happen and how did it lead to better lives for most Europeans?. What is it?. Yersinia pestis , a deadly bacteria that multiplies rapidly in the blood of infected rodents. Where did it come from?. Somewhere in the steppes of central Asia. How did it spread?.
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The Black Death How did it happen and how did it lead to better lives for most Europeans?
What is it? • Yersinia pestis, a deadly bacteria that multiplies rapidly in the blood of infected rodents
Where did it come from? • Somewhere in the steppes of central Asia.
How did it spread? • Fleas infesting the rodents ingest the bacteria. • Ecological changes in central Asia drove the infected rodents out of their habitats into closer contact with humans. • Fleas on the rats then had greater opportunity to infect humans with the bacteria they had picked up from the rats.
Where did it spread? • By 1345 large numbers of Mongols in the Russian steppes were dying. • It moved along trade routes to the Black Sea, where the Mongols had laid siege to the city of Kaffa. • Mongols catapulted infected corpses into the city. • A few (who were already infected) were able to escape Kaffa and fled in their ships to ports in the Mediterranean.
Different Varieties of Black Death • Bubonic-most common, transmitted by flea bites, kills 50%-60% of its victims • Appears within 6 days of flea bite, enlargement of lymph nodes, hemorrhaging below skin causing buboes and skin rotting • Pneumonic-transmitted from person to person, kills 95%-100% of its victims • Appears in 2-3 days, infection moves to lungs with a severe cough and spitting up bloody mucus
A Pandemic • Plague occurs in pandemics • A linked series of epidemics that strike in intervals of between 2 and 20 years • The Black Death reoccurred in Europe periodically over the next 200 years • The last outbreak was in India in 1994
What was the world like before the Black Death struck? • Population in Europe had increased about 300% from the 10th to 13th century. • Trade within regions and between regions had increased greatly, particularly between Europe, Africa, and Asia. • Large empires, such as the Mongol & Islamic empire, encouraged trade and protected trade routes.
What was the effect of the Black Death? • There were both short-term and long-term effects. • Effects were both social and economic.
Social Effects • Some deserted homes & families • Public flagellation • The church’s power declined • Rise of anti-Semitism (hostility towards Jews)
Economic Effects • One-third of population dies • Declining trade • Higher prices • Higher wages & living standards • Cheap land • Better technology • Decline of feudalism
Serfs • Wages increase, better standard of living
Farming to Manufacturing • Raising more sheep • Shearing
Washing wool • Spinning wool • Weaving wool