Black Death - The Black Plague

The period between 1350 and 1700 was one of the black in the history of human kind. During this period, more than 100 epidemics swept across the entire world, claiming the lives of millions and millions of people. An estimate put that the death toll during this period would be around 75 million, with one third in Europe alone. Some of the plaques that affected the world population during the period are listed below:

1. The Italian Plague – between 1629-1631
2. Great plague of Seville -between 1647-52
3. The great plague of London – between 1665-66
4. The great plague of Vienna - 1679

Asia, Europe and Russia are the major countries which were affected by the plagues.

Types
There were three types of plague called bubonic, pneumonic and septicemic. People affected by bubonic types have the lymph notes, neck, groin and armpits most affected. Headaches, vomiting, fevers are the symptoms of this disease.

In the cases of pneumonic deceases, the affected person will have the symptoms of reddish bloody and slimy sputum. The septicemic variety will have the markings of DIC (skin turning purple). The interesting part of the epidemic was that it could no be ascertained from where it all started.

Explanation for occurrence
The explanation for the occurrence of the Black Death – the Black Plague revolves around the theory whether it was a bubonic plague or not. It is also debated much whether it was caused by rats or not. The arguments and counter arguments are going on without any final conclusion.

In the midst of scientific reasons, there is one school of explanation for the epidemic that goes like this. When the population on the earth transgresses certain limits, a corrective or balancing action is initiated by the nature in the form of famines and outbreak of diseases that kill more and more people to maintain the balance.

Consequences
One of the main consequences of the Black Death- the Black Plague was reduction in the population figure. The reduction in population figures was quite noticeable from one country to another. From a mere 20% to about 70-75% of the population lost their lives. The after effects of the Black Death – the black plague are many.

The first and foremost was the incapacity of the government at that time. Before the officials could know what was happening, many were dead. There was no medicine available for curing the sickness. People were seeing people dying daily. This led to the belief among different communities that this was due to God’s anger, which resulted in the death of many people.

Naturally, one section of people thought the other group was responsible for the curse of the God, resulting in fighting among different religious groups. Jews were attacked, Christians were murdered and so on so forth. The death of many people led to shortage of labor in many parts of the world. In addition, there were lots of changes in the economy of the countries all over the world.

One of the social effects of the plague was the birth of religious cynicism among the people, since the religious people were not able to cure the plague affected people. They were mere witness for many deaths without in any way helping the people.

Other effects
The other effects of the plague include setting of pessimisms among people and the fall of alchemy as a medicine. The habit of taking alcohol increased after the plague as the same was used by many as a remedy for Black Death. Though medical facilities were inadequate during the plague, it led to the study of medicine especially the anatomy of human body and the feeling of the importance of surgeons.

Finally, the Black Death – black plague has its own effects on the contemporary as well as modern literature. Poems, rhymes, write-ups, essays on the plague occupied the central stage. Films on them were made with the background made on the plague situation.

Black Death – the Black Plague was the worst disease the mankind had ever witnessed, claiming the lives of many poor and poor people. The history of it should teach us how to avoid it in the future than finding reasons for them in the mankind itself.