Medieval Europe And The Renaissance :: essays research papers

When I look at the conflicts that medieval European people faced and the conflicts that modern people face, I see a huge difference. Our government, economics, science, mobility, art, literacy and health are very different. Some aspects of religion are different, but not many. The Black Death and feudalism are some major contributions to the medieval times.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Black Death is known as a beneficial divider between the central and Middle Ages. The changes are numerous. They include the introduction of gunpowder, importance of cities, economic and demographic crises, and powerful new currents in culture and religion. Overall, the late middle ages were characterized as a period of chaos. The Black Death did not cause the chaos, but the plague definitely contributed towards it, as well as making more problems. The Black Death erupted in the Gobi desert in the late 1320’s. There is no real explanation why. The plague bacillus was alive and active long before that. Europe had suffered from an epidemic in the 6th century. But the disease became relatively dormant in the following centuries. It is said that it was due to the climate beginning to cool in the 14th century. Whatever it was, the outbreak began and spread fast. It mostly went west, but it spread everywhere. The Asian nations suffered greatly as anywhere. In China, the population dropped from 125 million to 90 million. The plague was so widespread; it was said that there was not enough living to bury the dead. Rodents ran the unsanitary streets that carried the fleas that had the disease. This is how the Bubonic Plague was spread. The people believed at the time that the gods were punishing them for things they had done wrong in the past. The Bubonic Plague is transmitted either though an infected rodent (rats, rabbits, etc.) carrying bugs (fleas). It was first thought that the rats themselves transmitted the Bubonic Plague because when people found dead rats in the towns' streets, they would usually flee their civilization in fear of the rodents. But it was observed that people would only get the disease if they came in contact with a rodent or rat that was dead for a short amount of time. The Bubonic Plague is not very common these days, but that is because we live in the United States where our sanitary level is fairly high. But in Africa, Asia, and South America, several people die from it every year.