Artifact #3
The plague which will be mentioned in this artifact will be the one also known as the Black Death, which occurred in the mid-1300s and spread all across Europe and Asia. The disease spread very quickly and killed millions of people. There are a few reasons as to why the disease spread so quickly. One of the reasons was because trade between Europe and Asia happened often, and the Silk Road was a main route between the two continents. Which meant many different people of different nations would come in contact with each other quite often. Another reason was due to the lack of technology and belief in technology, did people not understand that there were microscopic organisms that were being transferred, or that they needed to wash their hands more often, or not to touch people that died from the disease without protective wear. Because the disease could be spread from person to person through respiratory droplets, and that animals could also contract the disease then spread it, this made the disease easier to spread. Also if someone was in the respiratory stage of the plague, unless they were given antibiotics, which they did not have at the time, they would most likely die in the next day or two. People called Flagellants started to whip and flog themselves just as Jesus had received before they died. They were Christian fanatics and started to attack Jews, thinking they were the cause of the disease. It was thought that the plague was a biblical one and God was punishing them for the sins that htye committed. The Church asked for them to stop what they were doing, which eventually got the Flagellants killed, but the common people liked them more often than not because they seemed to actually trying to stop the plague, while the church did nothing. The rich left the cities and went up into the hills, where they waited it out until the madness had stopped, saving many of them while half their town or more died in their absence. New laws on how the dead must be buried and how they were buried were put in place due to have how many people were dying a day. And because of the high mortality rate, cities started dumping bodies into the river and water systems because they had nowhere else to bury the dead. The word “quarantine” became used, which came from the Italian word forty, which is how long people would be left in isolation in an attempt to stop the further spread of disease. A short-term societal effect was depression, people drank in the streets, some neglected their appearance, and some neglected their livestock. The art style of death macabre came about, depicting skeletons and death in many paintings. Some positives did occur, people who were peasants, were now able to hold their own land or top pay for their work. Also, the self-standard or living, before cities were overpopulated and malnutrition due to not enough food for everyone, was not a problem anymore. In the 21st century, there has been an epidemic in Madagascar. In most parts of the world, people are able to know if an area of animals has the plague and then quarantines that area and makes sure people do not touch the animals there. But because Madagascar is encroaching more closer on urban settings, as well as poor living conditions, it makes it hard to keep people apart. The conditions in Madagascar are perfect for rats and fleas to thrive in.
Works cited
https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/black-death
In class movie
https://www.brighthubeducation.com/history-homework-help/88775-social-effects-of-the-black-death/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21st_century_Madagascar_plague_outbreaks