What is the Bubonic Plague?
The Bubonic Plague is known as one of the worst natural disasters in European history because it killed more than two-thirds of Europe's population. It lasted from 1346 to 1353. The most common names for this epidemic are the Black Death, Great Mortality, or the Plague. The Bubonic form of this plague is caused by a bacterium called Yersinia Pestis, which is spread through infected fleas on rats. Once the rats died of infection, the fleas began to infect humans. The bubonic form of this infection causes buboes to appear on one's body, which are big, swollen blisters that are usually found on the groin, armpits, or neck. Most humans died within a few days of contracting the plague. The rarer forms of the plague are called pneumonic and septicemic.
Origin of the Black Death
The Black Death originated in Mongolia, which was an Eastern Asian region full of nomads. The climate change forced Mongolian nomads to relocate into a new area to find good supply of food and water. The new areas they found were full of black rats that hopped onto the nomads' caravans. Little did they know that the rats were carrying the bubonic plague, so they traveled throughout Western India, Crimea (a region of Eastern Europe), and to the Northern ports on the Black Sea where the Italians set up trading colonies. By traveling and spreading the plague, the nomads left behind such a wide range of deaths , that eventually two-thirds of the population of Europe had died and half of China's population had passed too.
The plague hit Caffa, which was a major trading city on the Black Sea in 1345. When it hit, nobody knew what the plague was or how it got there. At the same time, the Muslims of Caffa were in a fight with Christian merchants from Italy who came to buy silk and spices from Asia. A nearby ruler, Janiberg was urged to help the citizens of Caffa fight off the merchants. The Italians soon learned they were going to be attacked, so they went to hide in a walled fortress in Caffa. Just as Janiberg and his men were about to attack, the Black Death hit them and Janiberg's numbers were greatly reduced. For his final attack, Janiberg demanded the rest of his men to hurtle the plagued victims into the fortress in which the Italian merchants were hiding. The merchants then retreated to their ships and tried to sail home to Italy, but the black rats had followed them onto their ships. Some ships managed to reach Italy, but were full of dead or dying merchants. Other ships never made it back and were lost at sea. When the dying merchants reached Italy; they couldn't receive help because Italian officials enforced isolation of the sick men, so the plague wouldn't spread. This didn't prevent the plague from spreading because the rats, carrying the infected fleas, made it off the ships by climbing down the docking ropes and into the Italian cities. From here, the Black Death rapidly spread throughout Europe and within the next two years it had moved North towards Britain.
The plague hit Caffa, which was a major trading city on the Black Sea in 1345. When it hit, nobody knew what the plague was or how it got there. At the same time, the Muslims of Caffa were in a fight with Christian merchants from Italy who came to buy silk and spices from Asia. A nearby ruler, Janiberg was urged to help the citizens of Caffa fight off the merchants. The Italians soon learned they were going to be attacked, so they went to hide in a walled fortress in Caffa. Just as Janiberg and his men were about to attack, the Black Death hit them and Janiberg's numbers were greatly reduced. For his final attack, Janiberg demanded the rest of his men to hurtle the plagued victims into the fortress in which the Italian merchants were hiding. The merchants then retreated to their ships and tried to sail home to Italy, but the black rats had followed them onto their ships. Some ships managed to reach Italy, but were full of dead or dying merchants. Other ships never made it back and were lost at sea. When the dying merchants reached Italy; they couldn't receive help because Italian officials enforced isolation of the sick men, so the plague wouldn't spread. This didn't prevent the plague from spreading because the rats, carrying the infected fleas, made it off the ships by climbing down the docking ropes and into the Italian cities. From here, the Black Death rapidly spread throughout Europe and within the next two years it had moved North towards Britain.
How did the Plague Spread?
In the Middle Ages, cities and villages were very crowded and dirty, so diseases spread faster. Since there were so many people, the Bubonic Plague was easily transferred from person to person by sneezing and/or coughing from the infected person. Also, there were tons of rats already in the cities because the conditions were very unclean, so once the rats were infected by the fleas, the plague spread to the humans. Just being near an ill person had dire consequences, for if the infected person even spoke or touched the non-infected person, the plague would spread. If one touched an object or person a plagued person had touched, then the healthy human would also become ill. All these ways of spreading, enabled the Black Death to spread throughout Europe from 1346 to 1353.