How Did The Bubonic Plague Affected The World

Throughout history, there were a series of horrific bubonic plagues that spread around the world. The bubonic plague is a deadly disease that forms buboes and causes many other terrible symptoms. The bubonic plague affected the world three different times. The first time the pandemic hit was in 542, it was called the Justinian Plague. The second time was in 1347, it was called the Black Death. The third time was in 1665, it was called the Great Plague of London. A pandemic is the term used when a disease occurs more than once, affects a vast region, and affects an enormous amount of people. The Black Death caused the greatest amount of damage, out of all three. Although the Justinian Plague and the Great Plague of London were disastrous, the Black Death was the most disastrous pandemic of them all because it killed the most people, spread the furthest, and had the worst effect on the economy.
In 542, the Justinian Plague infected the people of Constantinople.
The plague started in China and northeast India and it rapidly spread to Africa and to the Mediterranean by trade routes. The culprits for spreading the disease were black rats and fleas. Rats infested ships and streets throughout ancient Europe because people were very unsanitary. Since rats carried the disease on ships, crew members would be dead or gravely ill when they arrived at the ports. Not knowing about the plague, the people would take the cargo from the ship. That’s how the plague spread to other people. Historians believe that the bacteria Yersinia pestis was the cause of the plague. Once people were infected, it quickly spread to more people and cities, until all of Justinian’s empire was infected with the bubonic plague. The Justinian Plague took a large toll on Justinian’s empire and his
people. The Justinian Plague originated in China, spread to Justinian’s beloved empire and killed his people. Constantinople was the first place in Justinian’s empire to be affected by the plague. Constantinople was located in between the Black and Aegean seas, making it a city where commerce, trade, rats, fleas, and the plague flourished. Once the plague began to flourish in Constantinople, it spread to other places in the Mediterranean. The plague spread to places like Italy, Alexandria, Palestine, parts of Africa, and many other areas. For the most part, the plague was contained within the Mediterranean region; which is good because the death count would have been much higher if it had spread further. The Justinian Plague damaged the cities of Justinian’s empire. The Justinian Plague weakened the economy of the Byzantine Empire. Since the plague spread to the Mediterranean and killed about 25 to 50 million people; the empire could not defend itself from invaders. The population was so low that the empire couldn’t recruit more people for the military. Also, the low population made it difficult for people to grow grains because there weren’t enough farmers. After the plague hit, people were poor and hungry. When the price of grain increased, it was hard for people to afford food to feed their families. Trade relations decreased, after the plague. The economy went downhill after the plague devastated society. The empire depended on taxes from their people, but people couldn’t afford it. Even though people were poor and financially trying to recover from the plague, Justinian forced people to pay the tax. The Justinian Plague severely damaged the economy of the Byzantine Empire.
The Justinian Plague caused a large decrease in the population and suffering of countless victims. The plague had terrible effects on people’s’ bodies. The plague caused huge, pus-filled lymph nodes that grew in people’s armpits, groin, or neck. Along with having buboes on their bodies, the victims faced symptoms like diarrhea, fever, fatigue, headache, black splotches, and in most cases death. The black splotches occur because the blood vessels filled with bacteria and exploded. The blood becomes visible under the skin. Usually, when the black splotches start to form, death is coming soon. As far as the death count in the Byzantine Empire, the Justinian Plague is considered the ‘forgotten plague’ because nobody knows exactly how many people died. Luckily, historians have eyewitness Procopius to give them an idea of how many deaths there were. Procopius writes, ‘The tale of dead reached five thousand each day, and again it even came to ten thousand and still more than that.’ Even though there isn’t an exact number of deaths, historians estimate that twenty-five to fifty million people in total died during the Justinian Plague. The Justinian Plague greatly affected people’s lives.
In 1347, the bubonic plague arrived in Caffa, a city in Crimea. The plague was then carried by Genoese trade ships to Genoa, Venice, and Marseilles. The plague swept through Europe and claimed the lives of millions. This horrible plague was later known as the Black Death. The Black Death is believed to be caused by Yersinia pestis, the same bacteria that caused the awful Justinian Plague. Similar to the Justinian Plague, rats and fleas spread the disease to humans, during the Black Death. The Black Death caused an unimaginable amount of damage to society and the economy.