Yersinia pestis

We all know the nursery rhymes which we loved as a kid and sing to other children. Most people think of it as a child's song with no other meaning or maybe just a song of history. But they have what we might call a dark side, so prepare yourself for what you're about to here. Let's start with Ring Around the Rosie. Ring Around the Rosie came to be by the “Black Death” outbreak in the 14th century which spread, and killed about 15% of the country's population that's a lot in the 14th century.…

The Black Plague is known to be one of the most significant diseases. It took place during the 14th century causing many deadly scenes, with an estimate of 75 to 200 million deaths and had a major impact on England’s social structure. Daniel Defoe the author of the “Journal of the Plague” was able to experience this tragic era of the plague and later wrote about the tragic moments he witnessed. Through the use of anecdotes he creates graphic images which describe the horror and gruesome scenes…

When reading “The American Holocaust: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World” by David E. Stannard I was horrified at the living conditions of Europe in the fifteenth through seventeenth century. Epidemic outbreaks of plague and smallpox frequently comb the area. Every twenty-five to thirty years the Europe was engulfed in great epidemics. In a span of several months, more than 80,000 Londoners had died from plague. As time went by the plague had materialize again and again, the Black Death…

Bhopal India 1984 On the night of the 2nd of December 1984 tragedy struck in Bhopal, India killing an estimated 20,000 people. It began with a pesticide plant by Union Carbide. Union Carbide had diversified into India via Union Carbide India Limited. They had suspected that India was an enormous market that was yet to be tapped into and discovered. At the time UCC was one of the first companies to invest into India (Union Carbide Corporations). The plan was to sell their pesticide “Sevin” to…

Jennifer Liu Ms. Toerien IB English HL August 16, 2015 1) Write a summary of the main events of the play. Oepidus was aware that a curse was placed on Thebes. The city was blighted by disease and countless of citizens were dying. The curse would only be lifted when the murderer of the former king, Laius, was punished. Oepidus sent Creon, his brother-in-law, to ask for advice from the god Apollo through an oracle. Oepidus started to look for answers to Laius’ murder. Numerous ways were used,…

The Sweating Sickness In the Medieval Times most people have heard of The Black Death, meanwhile medieval English went through an epidemic called the sweating sickness. The sweating sickness took thousands of lives. Even though the sweating sickness took more lives than the Black Death, it grew infamous because its victims who got it died within 24 hours by sweating to death. Scientists say there is antibiotics to cure the illness but don’t know how a person becomes about with it, modern…

The 3 major effects of the Columbian exchange were the passing of diseases, plants and animals, and Native American conquest. These didn’t just effect people back then, but still effect modern day people and they may not even know it. Diseases caused many new branches of medical treatment, plants and animals effect how we eat today, and Native American conquest brought many new opportunities to the new world. One of the major effects of the Columbian Exchange were diseases. The Great Dying is…

The Black Death killed one third of Medieval Europe. Millions were killed and the disease began to affect other areas of life. Social standings shifted, the economy weakened and the relationship between the people and the church deteriorated. The consequences and destruction the Black Death had caused was felt long after t had rampaged through Europe. The Black Death arrived in Europe by sea in October 1347 when 12 Genoese trading ships docked at the Sicilian port of Messina…

In 1914 Australian men went out to sign up for war many not knowing what they were signing up for. The Australian troops had a tough life on the Western Front as they had to face horrid conditions not only fighting and risking lives for their country but living in places where you get bad trench conditions including trench foot and fever, have pests which bring diseases and steal your food, have health problems and not able to treat them as there isn’t much aid for everyone to be treated. The…

The Great Wall of Ancient China: Did the Benefits Outweigh the Costs? The Great Wall was originally built by the Xin and Han Dynasty to keep out the Mongolians. However, the benefits of the wall did not outweigh the costs. According to Document C, there was many casualties while building the wall. Peasants died by working in low temperatures with little food and soldiers died "from hunger, sickness, and extreme heat or cold." This shows that building the wall killed people, even though the…