Bubonic Plague - Plaga Bubonica

Name: Laura Maria Reyes Tobar.

Grade: 9a.

Topic: Bubonic plague.

Date: April 16th, 2012

School: Gimnasio Iragua

Bubonic Plague

Where did it happened and why?

In the 14th century (the 1300's), a horrible disease struck Asia, Africa, and Europe. The people called this illness the Black Death. The disease started in Asia in the 1340's. It quickly spread to Africa, and throughout Europe. The bubonic plague causes are bacteria called Yersinia pestis. Usually, the bacteria is spread through the bites of infected fleas or rodents. However, other animals can carry this bacteria, too, such as prairie dogs, lice, and chipmunks. The disease spread throughout Europe the Western world and reached pandemic proportions due to changes in lifestyle, people were moving from the country villages to highly populated towns. Infected people first broke out with red ring shaped marks with dark center spots on their arms and necks. They would run high fevers. They became even more ill, and then they died.

Was it an accident or did someone cause it?

It was not until 1894 that scientists discovered the cause of the plague. It came from a germ which lived on those fleas that lived on the Black Rats. When the rats died, the flea moved to live on humans, and the plague germ got into their blood. Towns in the middle Ages were crowded, dirty places. There was a lot of rubbish about for the rats to feed on. Most people had fleas anyway,so they had no idea that it was the fleas that carried the plague germ.

Consequences

The western world farming communities were devastated by the spread of the disease. It became common place to see livestock abandoned, their owners overtaken by the spread of the Bubonic Plague. Livestock and people perished. This decline of the farming communities resulted in food shortages. A major consequence of the disease was famine and even more people perished. Surviving populations of villages and towns were forced to move or starve to death. World demographics totally altered due to the spread of the disease. And the spread still continued. The Bubonic plague was therefore carried by starving people and spread to even more new areas. The world was gripped by a cycle of disease followed by famine. In just two years, 25 million people died of the plague. In ten years, the plague had killed over 1/3 of Europe's population.

What if this fact wouldn’t have happened?

The Byzantine emperor and Justinian I wouldn’t die in the first epidemic, Europe would not have lived through the disaster that was between 1340 and 1400, which destroyed a third of the population. The great plague of Seville (1647), the great plague of London (1665-1666), the great plague of Vienna (1679) and the plague of Marseille (1729) wouldn´t happen and 25 billion people wouldn´t die.

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