The Bubonic Plague And The Black Death

The Bubonic Plague was a deadly disease that killed at least twenty-five million people and devastated Europe from the 1300’s to the early 1700’s. The Bubonic Plague is also known as the Black Plague and the Black Death. The Bubonic Plague is a disease that was very deadly. Many religious people thought the disease was an act of God. They thought that God was punishing them for the sins they have committed in life. Others thought it was an act of witches and Jews. This disease lasted for over four hundred years. This disease was caused by the bacterium called the Yersinia Pestis (History). Fleas usually would carry this disease. The fleas would usually travel on small mammals or rodents, such as rats. They infected the rats as they travelled …show more content…
The effects of the plaque towards humans were excruciating. To start off, the plague caused fevers and painful swelling of the lymph nodes called the buboes, that’s why it is called the bubonic plague. The swelling could sometimes get as large as an egg or a small apple (Eye Witness). Some people’s tongues even turned into a whitish, pale color (Middle Ages). Then spots would appear on the affect areas on the infected people. The spots would first appear red and then over time they would appear black or blue, hence giving the alternative name, the Black Plague. Death would most likely happen a week after being infected. Later on, two other forms of the plague created, The Pneumonic Plague and the Septicemic Plague (Middle Ages). The Pneumonic Plague spread through the respiratory system. People usually got the Pneumonic Plague by breathing in the air …show more content…
The Plague’s rapid infection can be credited to trading (Middle Ages). As people traded, infected fleas and rodents that carried infected fleas would travel with the people and infect them. As the people traded and had contact with each other, they all got the plague and carried it back to their city or town and infect those in it.” After the nomadic tribes of Mongolia were devastated by the plague, it moved south and east to China and India. Wherever it went, the death toll was high. It is thought that the disease made its way to Europe in 1346” (History). In October of 1347, Italian Merchants came back from their trip to China and along with them came the plague (Middle Ages). The plague spread like wildfire, it spread so rapidly and infected all of the people of Sicily and its surrounding countryside within days. Because of the plague, many people quickly fled the city, but a lot of them already had the plague, so they infected others. To describe how quickly and deadly the plague was an Italian writer and philosopher named Boccaccio said that “Victims would often eat lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors in paradise.” A famous incident happened during a battle between the Tatars (Turks) and Genoa (Italy). During the battle, the