What was the black death?

Question

what caused it how it spread

Answer 1

Until just a few years ago it was assumed and still argued that it was and is bubonic plague but due to discoved tissue samples it is now felt either we do not know or it might be Ebola.

God Bless You and Our Southern People.

Answer 2

The Black Death, or the Bubonic Plague, occured during the 1300's in Europe. It was mostly spreaded by fleas who were "living" on infected rats. Some people believed that it started in Asia. It then came to Europe via the Silk Road, where trades and goods were exchanged between Asia and Europe. The plague killed one-third of the population in Europe.

Answer 3

The black death was an epidemic that spread across and killed 25 million people over a 5 year span in Europe in the 1300's. it was originally carried over to Europe by trade ships that sailed back and forth to China, India, and Spain. The black death can be caused by a caused from a flea: the flea bites a Black Rat/rodent that carries the disease, which is then transferred over to the human when bitten; or by drinking unsanitary water. The black death can be detected when internal signs of malaria, pneumonia, headaches, nausea, aching joints, fever of 101-105 degrees, vomiting, and blood poisoning are present. Symptoms took from 1-7 days to appear. Black spots appear on the skin, and fill with puss. eventually the infected person dies from listed illnesses.

Answer 4

The black death or the great plague was thought to have been brought from a ship into Europe from China. It was carried by the fleas on rats and because sanitation was so lax the people didn't know it was the vermin carrying the fleas. It is also known as the bubonic plague, because of the huge bubos it caused that turned the skin black .

Answer 5

It started in the 13th century and killed 75 million people across Asia and Europe. It was spread by fleas and rats. It's called black death because of the black bumps found on the victims bodies. Wikipedia on line has good info about it. There are pictures on line as well if you type in black plague. It's still around, but rare.

Answer 6

Black Death, outbreak of bubonic plague that struck Europe and the Mediterranean area from 1347 through 1351. It was the first of a cycle of European plague epidemics that continued until the early 18th century. The last major outbreak of plague in Europe was in Marseilles in 1722. These plagues had been preceded by a cycle of ancient plagues between the 6th and 8th centuries AD; they were followed by another cycle of modern, but less deadly, plagues that began in the late 19th century and continued in the 20th century. The term “Black Death” was not used to refer to the plagues of 1347 through 1351 until much later; contemporaries usually referred to it as the Pestilence, or the Great Mortality.

Plague is a bacterial infection that can take more than one form. Victims of bubonic plague usually suffer from high fevers and swellings under the armpits or in the groin. Unless treated with modern antibiotics, usually 60 percent of the infected will die, often within the first five days. Other forms of plague include pneumonic plague and septicemic plague (see Plague). The disease is carried by a variety of rodents—rats, marmots, and prairie dogs, among others. It can pass into a human population when fleas carrying infected rodent blood attach themselves to a human host

Answer 7

The Black Death was an outbreak of bubonic plague that entered Melcombe Regis in 1348, and within a year had killed nearly half the population.

The Black Death, began with a minor outbreak of bubonic plague, medical term Yersinia Pestis, which started in the Gobi Dessert. It was transmitted throughout China and reached Europe when a Kipchak army, besieging a Crimean trading post, catapulted plague-infested corpses over the city walls. Plague spread throughout Europe, carried by fleas in the fur of rats, and eventually reached the Dorset coast on 24th June 1348.

Contagion carried quickly, and about two thirds of the population became infected. The morbidity rate was about 66%, i.e. if you caught it, you had a two to one chance of dying. Chroniclers relate how the disease raged in a town for about a month and then left. It moved gradually northwards until it had burnt itself out. Within twelve months, nearly half the population was dead.

After the problem of burying the dead in plague pits was over, people tried to get back to normality. But life was never the same again. The decreased population meant a shortage of labour and workmen demanded and received pay increases. The government of Edward III tried to cap pay increases by an Act of Parliament, The Statute of Labourers, the first government attempt to control the economy. Workmen who demanded too much were placed in the stocks, that is trapped in a wooden gadget for a day, and employers who paid over the odds were fined. The Act was largely unsuccessful as employers coaxed workers from other employers, with promises abundant pay increases, and wages kept on rising. One recorded case shows that a joiner who built the stocks for the punishment of greedy workers was paid three times the legal rate for his labour.

The government also passed The Sumptuary Act of 1367, making it illegal for the lower classes to spend their new wealth on new apparel of ermine or silk. Only the aristocracy and some senior gentlefolk were allowed to wear these items. Today when barristers are raised to the rank of Queen’s Council, they are said to ‘take silk’, indicating their elevation in status. The Act has never been repealed, so if you wear silk, and if any of Edward III’s commissioners are still alive, you could get put in the stocks!

By the reign of Richard II, the economy had settled down and landowners switched from labour intensive methods, grain production, to low labour processes, particularly sheep farming. Increased wool production boosted the economy and became the nation’s chief export, making England a major economic power.

Answer 8

The Black Death refers to a plague that swept Europe and Asia at various times, especially during the Middle Ages. For an overview, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death.

Answer 9

It was spread by fleas... not flies. The fleas were infected by rats. The outbreak was mainly due to the "mini ice age" that wiped out crops and starved the people to the point that their immune systems were weak. 25 million people died of Bubonic Plague.

Answer 10

bubonic plague... spread by rats