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The Black Death, caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, emerged in Central Asia and rapidly spread through infected fleas on rodents. It wreaked havoc across Europe by 1345, decimating populations through bubonic and pneumonic plagues. While society faced immediate devastation—public health crises, economic decline, and social unrest—the aftermath led to significant changes. With a third of the population gone, survivors experienced improved living standards, rising wages, and a decline in feudalism, fostering economic progress and shifts towards manufacturing.
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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
