The Black Plague can be described as one of the worst disasters to ever hit mankind, claiming the lives of more than 25 million people in Europe during the 14th century (Benedictow 2005). It took only four short years for the Black Death to inflict its wrath from Asia to almost all of Europe because of the availability of commerce routes (McMullin 2003). The plague not only claimed the lives of so many, but it depressed the economy (Benedictow 2005). Massive labor shortages due to high rates of mortality increased economic, social and technical modernizations and has been considered a reason for the emergence of the Renaissance in the late 14th century (Benedictow 2005). A bacterium called Yersinia pestis unleashed its fury from Asia to
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The bubonic plague then spread along trade routes via the Silk Road (The Black Death (n.d.)). Caravanserai which were rest stops for traders spread the disease because people and animals were in close contact to one another (The Black Death (n.d.)). The people among these trade routes became hosts for the disease and therefore this disease was carried westward. European traders from Italian city-states had established trade relations and regular quests where made through the Mediterranean and Black Seas regions (The Black Death: Horseman of the Apocalypse in the Fourteenth Century (n.d.)). These ships became the vessel for which the Black Plague spread at an alarming rate (The Black Death: Horseman of the Apocalypse in the Fourteenth Century (n.d.)). At the city of Kaffa, on the Crimean Peninsula, the Genoese had a successful colony until a disagreement with the Mongols led to a conflict (The Black Death (n.d.)). In 1346, the Mongol soldiers that were besieging the city of Kaffa were devastated by the plague (The Black Death (n.d.)). It is said that the Mongols catapulted their dead comrades over the city walls of Kaffa after they lost their hold on the city and some of the citizens of Kaffa contracted the plague (The Black Death (n.d.)). The plague continued its mission through Asia affecting the major cities if Baghdad and Constantinople and then inflicted its menace on Alexandria in Egypt, Damascus in Syria, and down the Red Sea to Mecca eventually traveling with Genoese merchants back to Italy in 1347 (The Black Death
The bubonic plague then spread along trade routes via the Silk Road (The Black Death (n.d.)). Caravanserai which were rest stops for traders spread the disease because people and animals were in close contact to one another (The Black Death (n.d.)). The people among these trade routes became hosts for the disease and therefore this disease was carried westward. European traders from Italian city-states had established trade relations and regular quests where made through the Mediterranean and Black Seas regions (The Black Death: Horseman of the Apocalypse in the Fourteenth Century (n.d.)). These ships became the vessel for which the Black Plague spread at an alarming rate (The Black Death: Horseman of the Apocalypse in the Fourteenth Century (n.d.)). At the city of Kaffa, on the Crimean Peninsula, the Genoese had a successful colony until a disagreement with the Mongols led to a conflict (The Black Death (n.d.)). In 1346, the Mongol soldiers that were besieging the city of Kaffa were devastated by the plague (The Black Death (n.d.)). It is said that the Mongols catapulted their dead comrades over the city walls of Kaffa after they lost their hold on the city and some of the citizens of Kaffa contracted the plague (The Black Death (n.d.)). The plague continued its mission through Asia affecting the major cities if Baghdad and Constantinople and then inflicted its menace on Alexandria in Egypt, Damascus in Syria, and down the Red Sea to Mecca eventually traveling with Genoese merchants back to Italy in 1347 (The Black Death