ANTHROP 2U03 Lecture 3: Black Death
Document Summary
1346 (ukraine, ka a) illness broke-out, death tolls climbing. * port on crimean shore of black sea (trade route) a portable poison : first record of biological warfare, catapulted dead bodies over into fortresses (spreading the germs) > people ed into western europe and western asia. 1348: symptoms hit florence, italy (the symptoms were not the same as in the. East) there was a gush a blood from the nose and swelling in the groin/armpits. Plague of justinian (542 ad > 700 ad) from alexandria, egypt. Black death: 30-70 million people died (30-40% of the entire european population) Estimated to have killed 50 to 100 million people worldwide in 20 years. Devastated eurasian populations, perhaps 30 million deaths in europe alone in 20 years. Today, believed to have been caused by bubonic plague. Seemed to spread in unpredictable ways (no germ theory) Avoided certain towns, streets, people (pockets were left una ected)