Both the bubonic plague in Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries and the epidemics, such as smallpox, in the Americas caused by the European settlers in the 15th and 16th centuries were major events that had a significant impact on the areas they affected and their future development. Even though they occurred at different times and in different places, they both share some commonalities. One way these two epidemics were similar is in how quickly and easily they spread, one person being able to infect hundreds or more. Therefore, they both affected large amounts of people and eventually even whole communities died out. One of the many reasons they caused such consequences is that neither the Europeans nor the natives in the Americas were familiar
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Some historians argue that it came to Europe from China, others are in favor of the Himalayas, southern Russia, or northern Iraq (Byrne, 48). However, a general direction is agreed upon and that is that the plague entered Europe from the east. This can be seen as another similarity between the plague and the European diseases in the Americas, since diseases such as smallpox were brought to the Americas by the conquistadores from the east as well. The plague first appeared in Europe by the end of 1346 or the beginning of 1347. In the year 1348 the plague was the strongest and spread through most of Southern Europe reaching the rest of Europe within the next few years and ending by the year 1353 (Byrne, 50-51; Pamuk, 293). Therefore, within the course of a few years the Black Death was able to conquer Europe in almost all its …show more content…
In Europe nobody experienced such an epidemic as the Black Death since the times of Justinian. There was no medical knowledge about the cause of the plague, but people at least tried to practice a certain form of quarantine. For example, “gatherings around the beds of the dying and the dead were forbidden” (Goff). Since the Europeans had no exposure to such a disease as the plague, they had no immunity against it and the same was the case of the Native Americans. As a consequence one person infected with an Old World disease could kill millions of inhabitants of the New Word (Levack, 420). One difference between these epidemics and the plague is that the causes of the deaths of the natives were known diseases and also the origin of them was known. The natives were not at first certain of the cause, but later started to blame the Europeans. Religion played a part in both cases when trying to explain the disasters that were taking place. The plague was taught to be the caused by “divine wrath” (Goff) and the fact that the Europeans were immune to “diseases that killed off so may Indians reinforced the impression that the Europeans were favored agents of the gods or gods themselves (Levack, 420). In both cases the low immunity and the inability to prevent infection or cure those infected only assisted in the rapid spread of the diseases and lead to horrible
Some historians argue that it came to Europe from China, others are in favor of the Himalayas, southern Russia, or northern Iraq (Byrne, 48). However, a general direction is agreed upon and that is that the plague entered Europe from the east. This can be seen as another similarity between the plague and the European diseases in the Americas, since diseases such as smallpox were brought to the Americas by the conquistadores from the east as well. The plague first appeared in Europe by the end of 1346 or the beginning of 1347. In the year 1348 the plague was the strongest and spread through most of Southern Europe reaching the rest of Europe within the next few years and ending by the year 1353 (Byrne, 50-51; Pamuk, 293). Therefore, within the course of a few years the Black Death was able to conquer Europe in almost all its …show more content…
In Europe nobody experienced such an epidemic as the Black Death since the times of Justinian. There was no medical knowledge about the cause of the plague, but people at least tried to practice a certain form of quarantine. For example, “gatherings around the beds of the dying and the dead were forbidden” (Goff). Since the Europeans had no exposure to such a disease as the plague, they had no immunity against it and the same was the case of the Native Americans. As a consequence one person infected with an Old World disease could kill millions of inhabitants of the New Word (Levack, 420). One difference between these epidemics and the plague is that the causes of the deaths of the natives were known diseases and also the origin of them was known. The natives were not at first certain of the cause, but later started to blame the Europeans. Religion played a part in both cases when trying to explain the disasters that were taking place. The plague was taught to be the caused by “divine wrath” (Goff) and the fact that the Europeans were immune to “diseases that killed off so may Indians reinforced the impression that the Europeans were favored agents of the gods or gods themselves (Levack, 420). In both cases the low immunity and the inability to prevent infection or cure those infected only assisted in the rapid spread of the diseases and lead to horrible