Black Plague
The Black Plague was a disease that first became unpopular in the 14th century, when it started to spread through Europe. It was highly unpleasant it only took three or four days to kill you, and it caused a lot of pain while it was doing so. Most importantly, it was incredibly contagious it seemed that you only needed to see a person who had the plague, and within three days you would be dead yourself.
The black plague originated in the Gobi desert (in Asia) in the 1320's. From there it spread west, arriving in Constantinople in 1347. It sped across the trade routes, jumping from Sicily to Marseilles to Paris and across the channel to England. From England it would head northeast to the Scandinavian countries. No one could understand why it was happening, no one could stop it, and people continued to die. Europe fell into a deep depression, both economically and spiritually, because they felt their God had abandoned them.
The plague was using fleas to transmit itself. Considering there personal hygiene at the time, fleabites were a common occurrence and little more than an annoyance to the average European. The fleas could move from place to place by infesting rats, which were quite common aboard merchant ships. The fleas' infectious bites would kill the rats. From there the plague could move on back to the rats again, or from human to human.
Also, a song was made after
that it was called " Ring around the Rosy". The Song was " Ring around
the rosy, pocket full of posy, ashes, ashes, we all fall down. It said
ring around the rosy because you would get a ring on your wrist. Then,
pocket full of posy because it smelled, and if it smelled really bad you
would put that over your nose, so you couldn't smell all the dead bodies.
Next, ashes ashes. It said that because people back then used burn the
dead. Finally, we all fall down, and this means we fall and die.
1. If the people knew about the
disease how could they
have changed the outcome of it?
2. How did the first victom of the disease get infected?
3. What was the main reason that
the disease spread to
other countries?
