#3 The Black Death that Killed 30-60% of Europe’s Population
Bubonic Plague killed tens to hundreds of millions of people in Europe
Hello all,
Hope you are all doing well and have planned an amazing weekend ahead.
Today we will get to know about the Black Death, one of the worst natural disasters in human history.
The mid-1300s was a dark period for the world. Diseases like Malaria, Tuberculosis, leprosy, influenza, and smallpox appeared first. When a disease crosses the country’s borders, that’s when it is called a pandemic. With time, humans built a way of reaching out to other cities via railways, seas, etc. But with other goods, some deadly diseases were also traded across borders.
The Black Death
Bubonic Plague was the worst way for people to die. The horrible disease arrived in Europe in October 1347, when 12 ships coming from the black sea stopped at Sicilian Port of Messina. The people who went to receive the sailors met with a surprise. Most of the sailors were dead, and their bodies were unrecognizable. The ship was immediately ordered to leave the region. But it was too late because the deadly plague had already struck its roots in the area.
Causes and Symptoms
The plague is caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis. It is zoonotic bacteria that mammals and their fleas carry. People infected by this bacterium develop symptoms after 1–7 days of being infected. Its symptoms include painful swollen lymph nodes called ‘buboes’. The patient’s body is covered in black boils filled with blood and pus. The mode of transmission of this deadly plague is the bite of an infected flea (rat flea), direct contact with infected tissue, and inhalation of infected air. According to the Italian poet Giovanni Boccaccio, when the disease first enters a human’s body, it causes swellings in the armpits; these swellings vary in size and extent. With these swellings, called ‘Plague boils’, the person also suffers fever, chills, vomiting, diarrhoea, terrible aches and pains, and eventually death. The plague first attacks the lymphatic system, but if it is left untreated, it could enter the lungs and blood.
Beginning of The Great Pestilence
The plague is said to have begun 2000 years ago. Before the arrival of infected sailors, the Europeans were aware of the ‘Great Pestilence’ that was spreading across the trade routes of the East. However, they believed that the disease would end by itself before reaching Europe. In the 1340s, the disease had affected China, India, Persia, Syria, and Egypt.
The Bubonic Plague Affected Major Countries
What made it the most dangerous was the efficiency of this plague. A healthy person at night when he slept could be dead in the morning. After it infected Messina next, it targeted the port of Marseilles in France and the port of Tunis in North Africa. It then reached Rome, Florence, and Siena. By 1348, Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon and London were also experiencing loss due to the black death pandemic.
Effects and Consequences
In addition to deaths, the affected areas faced many other consequences. Many labourers died, which resulted in reduced land cultivation to a large extent. People lost tenants, and there was a rapid rise in workers’ wages. With that, psychological consequences were also faced. People were so scared of the black death that their obsession with it increased excessively. Every poetry, painting, and sculpture was about the horrible pandemic. (Kind of like what we are going through right now, no?)
Some people believed that Jews were responsible for the spread of disease. Anti-Semitism campaigns began; a large number of Jews were killed. The significant consequence of the pandemic was the drastic decrease in population. The population of England when the pandemic reached its end in the 1400s was half than it was 100 years before. The black death caused the disappearance of over 1000 villages. Approximately 25 million people died due to the black death in Europe, and 60% of the population of Florence and Siena died.
Treatment of The Bubonic Plague
The medieval period was not medically advanced as much as the world is now. No one knew how the plague was transmitted from one person to the other and how to treat it. According to one doctor,
“instantaneous death occurs when the aerial spirit escaping from the eyes of the sick man strikes the healthy person standing near and looking at the sick.”
Although the doctors had an idea that the disease-causing factor passed from one person to the other, they did not know what it was. It was especially not an ‘aerial spirit’. Some people also believed that it was God’s wrath inflicted upon them. As they could not find a logical answer to the plague, they considered it a punishment from God for their sins like adultery, fornication, greed, etc. So for them, its cure existed in the purification of their deeds.
Medical and spiritual practices were carried out by people to find the cure. The medical procedures included bloodletting and boil-lancing, while superstitious practices like burning aromatic herbs were also carried out. There was a lockdown all over the infected region. People refused to meet the sick, shops were closed, and gatherings were avoided. However, by doing so, people could not escape the deadly disease because cows, pigs, sheep, goats, and chickens were also infected. The sailors stayed in quarantine for about 30–40 days inside their ships.
In the 19th century, the French biologist named Alexandre Yersin discovered the germ Yersinia pestis, responsible for causing the black death. Today, antibiotics like Ciprofloxacin, Doxycycline, Gentamicin, etc., are used to cure the disease.
The Black Death Today
Many people believe that the plague ended in the 14th century. But the truth is, it still exists in some parts of the world and is still equally dangerous if left untreated. However, the advancements in the health sector have made it less likely for the disease to take a large number of lives today. Areas still affected by the plague are Africa, India, and Peru. In the U.S, around seven cases are seen every year in rural and backward areas of Southwestern states like Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and California.
In the crucial time of this pandemic, everyone was so desperate to save themselves that they abandoned their loved ones. The population of Western Europe did not increase until the 16th century. The plague had devastating after-effects. People were mentally and financially destroyed. The Europeans still remember the 13th century as the darkest time of history, and no other pandemic till this day was as horrible as the black death.
Since we’re also in a pandemic, even if not quite as vicious as the Black Death, it makes us understand those circumstances in a better way. All thanks to medical sciences, technology and scientists for vaccines; otherwise, who knows what havoc the covid-19 pandemic would’ve also spread.