Black Death DBQ

Most of the known world was devoured by the most notorious epidemic in history. In the 1351 , the infamous Black Death began to chew up and spit out Europe along with Asia and Africa as if being a victim of the Black Death once wasn’t horrific enough, The Great Pestilence hit Europe for the second time in the 18th century, along side that, in the 20th century Asia and Africa were revisited by The Great Plague. According to the background essay, “In five short years, the plague killed between 25 and 45% of the population it encountered.” During the time of the gruesome Black Death, two religions were widely practiced in this region of the world, Christianity and Islam. These were two religions with some different views and reasoning for this merciless period of terror and death. Christianity was the predominant religion in Europe. Document six states, ”The people for the greater part ever became more depraved, more prone to every vice and more inclined than before to evil and wickedness, not thinking of death nor the past plague nor of their own salvation...” Europeans were rebelling against their religion and doing as they pleased, whether the outcome of their actions was being contaminated with

For them, the Black Death was portrayed as an apocalypse and they would gather and pray, much unlike the European Christians who began to bathe in sin. This time period of death and despair destroyed everything in its path excluding the faith of the Muslim community, perhaps this horrendous historical event strengthened their faith. Document 9 states, “the people fasted for three successive days [then] assembled in the Great mosque until it was filled to overflowing... [they] spent the night therein prayers... then,... they all went out together carrying Korans in their hands.” This included the entire city of Damascus, the Jews, the Christians alongside the