Artifact 2

The Plague

Collin M Hamilton

Dr. Hinks

The plague of the Black Death originated in the regions of South-Eastern Asia in the area of China. Its vector was that of fleas that transferred the bacteria to rodents. After humans contracted the disease, it was the Mongols who spread it across much of Asia and then on to Europe. The Mongols would happen upon camps wiped out by plague and take valuable items such as furs and textiles, which were infected with plague. When they attacked the Europeans, warriors of the Mongols were dying of plague and were too sick to fight. So, in their last act of spite before retreat, they catapulted their dead over the city walls in hopes to afflict their enemies with the same invisible killer that had taken many of their forces. This began the spread of plague in Europe. Along with the Mongols, merchant ships also had micro-biological stowaways on board. This brought plague to the harbors and major market places of Europe which spread relatively quickly out to the rest of Europe. Sanitation was not stressed as an important social norm, making it easy for plague to travel from person to person. They had no knowledge of microbiology, therefore being unaware of what they were really dealing with or how to actually treat it other than an affliction by God. Many resorted to believing that the plague was witchcraft cast over Western society by the Jews. Once they plague had died down, society was already shaken to its core. Belief in religion was at an all-time low as people believed that a god could not let this kind of death and destruction of life happen if he were real. People also began to reap the benefits of the massive decline of population and the newly ownerless land. Peasants began to find higher paying work and nobles began having to do their own labor-intensive work.

Modern day, plague still exists, but not to the same extent and accessibility. Modern quarantine procedures are generally able to contain these cases in most situations, but there are always some exceptions. When plague cases in the United States generally come from trade ships from China and other South-Eastern Asian nations. Plague in Madagascar has been on the African island since the 1990s, but became an epidemic in 2009. This was due to the practice of unburying dead ancestors to seek advice, and with plague infected bones, it was easily spread to the living. Although authorities are aware of the problem, the deep-rooted cultural significance of this act is hard to shake.