The Black Death Consider a disease that kills 50-90% of its infected victims. The bubonic plague, also known as “The Black Death,” has existed for many years. It is an extremely lethal disease that has horrendous symptoms. The first recorded case was in China in 224 B.C.E. There was a horrific outbreak in Europe during the mid-fourteenth century killing about one third of the population. There was also an epidemic in China during the 1330s. During this period, China was a trading nation, which led to the spread of the bubonic plague. Rats on merchant ships that had contracted the disease dispersed it to western Asia and Europe. Eventually the plague was very scattered across the world. The plague had a vast impact on trade, governments, and religion. The combination of social-cultural and epidemiological …show more content…
Heather Whipps supports this idea in her article, How the Black Death Changed the World, by stating, “The Black Death-as it is commonly called-especially ravaged Europe, which was halfway through a century already marked by war, famine and scandal in the church…” (Whipps 1-2). The war had already weakened Europe financially, causing them to have a lack of resources. Due to these factors, people started moving from the countryside to city-side to better get those resources. Since cities were so condensed, it was easier for germs to spread, especially an airborne disease like the plague. Whipps continues, “Densely populated Europe, which had seen a recent growth in the population of its cities, was a tinderbox for the disease” (2). Also, since they had a lack of resources people were starving, causing their immune systems to weaken. There were many after-effects of the Black Death, such as, labor shortage, lack of religious faith, and Jewish people moving. Every factor played a part in causing the bubonic plague to become an