Tracing The Plague's Origins:
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Tracing The Plague's Origins.
[Image credit.]
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Europe -- Before the 1300's
- Agriculture boom
{People moved onto fertile lands that had never been farmed upon}
{More food was produced due to advances in science}
- Population boom
{Population more than doubled in the years between 1000 & 1300}
- Quality of life starts to go downhill
{The population size was advancing quicker than technology}
{It wasn't possible to produce the amount of food needed for the growing population}
Europe -- Early 1300's
- Famines
{Famines hit Europe in 1315-1319 & again in 1332}
{Hunger & poverty became common}
{People were more likely to fall ill because of weakness from chronic hunger}
{Animals were affected by these disasters also- for instance, sheep became infected with liver rot & entire flocks died from it}
Origins of the Plague
- Originated in
{the grassy region where a plague reservoir exists from the north-western shores of the Caspain Sea into southern Russia}
{It used to be thought that the disease originated in China}
- From there, the plague can be traced to Kaffa
{a Mongol army attacked the Crimean port city of Kaffa [today Feodosyia] & brought the disease with them}
{since the Europeans traded with the Chinese at Kaffa, their merchant ships were docked there during the time of the raid}
{rats & fleas carrying the disease got on board the European ships before they sailed away}
[[see here for more information concerning the rats & fleas]]
{October 1347: the ships landed in Italian ports & the rats & fleas came ashore & within no time, the disease had been transmitted throught the land}
- Lifespan of the plague
{Generally the plague would wreak create chaos & death in an area for about 4-6 months and then fade}
{In larger cities, the plague would slow down during the winter time and then re-appear in the spring to wreck havoc for 6 more months}
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