Reflective Essay
BI-245X Epidemics and Society
Collin M. Hamilton
Dr. Hinks
I found the course very enlightening when it was shown how the history of human society was affected by diseases and how common awful diseases were throughout the world. Diseases like Smallpox and Tuberculosis were very often seen as death sentences and those that survived were scarred from the diseases throughout their lives. It was very interesting to see how society reacted to these diseases all ranging from obscure rituals to rudimentary science, and even purely just running away. Up until relatively modern times, humanity did not truly know what these afflictions were, having little to absolutely no knowledge of microbiology and its implications.
In Artifact One, I learned how the emergence of plagues was directly associated with the agricultural revolution. Information I have learned from history courses places this even around 12,000 years ago during the Neolithic era. When humans settled down, they were very unprepared for the implications of staying in one place for any amount of time longer than a month or two. Overflow of human waste became a major problem as there was no planned sewage system or knowledge on how to handle the new problem. These reservoirs of feces and urine as well as deceased bodies became a breeding ground for micro-organisms such as harmful bacteria and viruses. Another factor leading to the emergence of plagues was the proximity of Humans to one another. Before settling down, humans had traveled in small tribes making it very difficult for a harmful disease to spread to large populations. When humans settled down however, they began to congregate larger populations in one area making it significantly easier for plagues to form. Also, before the agricultural revolution, man had not domesticated animals. These animals carried many diseases specific to their species, but through close and consistent contact, some of these diseases were able to mutate. This made them compatible with humans so that a person was able to contract some of these diseases from their livestock and spread it to other humans. Thus, continuing the spread of the newly formed plagues.
Through class assignments and independent research I did for Artifact Two, I was able to learn how the Bubonic Plague originated and swept across the Asian and European continents. Often referred to as the Black Death, it originated in South-Eastern Asia in the region that today is known as China. Originating in fleas, it was easily transferred to rodents and humans through bites. It was called the Black Death because of the large swollen lymph nodes that had turned black and painful. It is estimated that during the time that the plague had its grip on Europe, approximately thirty to fifty percent of the continent’s population died because of the disease. Originally contracted by the Mongols, it was brought with them on their conquests into Europe. When they became too sick to continue the siege of European border towns, they would catapult their infected dead into the enemy’s fortresses in hopes to afflict their enemies with the same invisible foe that haunted them. It was also transported to Europe by means of the Mediterranean trade ports. Rats infected by the bacteria were all over the ships and many of the merchants aboard had become infected on their voyages. By the time European authorities realized what was going on at the ports, it was too late to contain the affliction to the sea. The plague struck both nobles and peasants a like, but those with more resources such as high-ranking officials were able to escape into the country side and had a higher survivability rate. After the whole ordeal, many of the land-owning elite had fallen to the invisible killer, leaving their land and resources for the taking. Many peasants who were too poor to own their own houses were now able to work for higher wages and were able to afford their own land to do as they pleased. With the severely diminished population and peasants leaving in search of higher wages and their very own property, nobles were forced to labor on their own land in order to gather their resources. The plague essentially forced society to change practically overnight in a sense when looking at thousands of years of structure uprooted within a decade’s time.
Lastly, I learned that just because a disease does not infect humans, does not mean it cannot harm humans and open up the door for human based diseases to come into the picture. I learned this from studying the Irish Potato Blight of 1845 and the years that followed through Artifact Five. During the 1840s, the Irish peasant class was almost completely dependent on the nutrient rich potatoes that was their primary food source. When 1845 brought the perfect conditions of cool moist weather and a fungus that preyed on potatoes, the Irish potato yield was devastated, and so was the entire Irish population. When winter of that year came, the peasants had little to eat and many starved throughout the winter. Irish peasants were too malnourished and weak to ward off the coming of other diseases that thrive in such a desolate environment. As many as 1.8 million Irishmen died in the six years that followed 1845., lowering their population from 8.4 million citizens to almost 6.6 million. There were many documented cases of peasants attempting to raid government storages so as to get what little food was stored there. The blight led many Irish to immigrate to other countries, most notably the United States.
Diseases have shaped the way that humans have lived for millennia and will continue to shape modern society despite the large advancements in modern medicine and technology. The epidemics of the past have steered society to be completely different in a relatively short time compared to the time it took society to be structured that way to begin with. Society’s reaction to new diseases and modern drug resistant strains will be every changing in the modern world and the era to come afterwards.