HST 111 Lecture : The Black Death- Lecture 2
12 Sep 2014
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Document Summary
Once it ended, it brought about a post-medieval europe. In 1340, europe is coming to the end of a 700 year period of prosperity and population growth. Communication between europe and asia was limited, good weather. Silk road stretches across asia from nanjing to tyre, but no single political entity controlled this area. General countries south: greece/balkans, italy, spain/portugalwest: france, British isles, germany/low countries, scandinaviaeast: poland, hungary, etc. Genghis khan led the mongols through a massive conquest of asia, but stayed out of most of europe because they were uninterested. 13th century sees ease in communication between europe and china (ex. Marco polo, italian who brings back info of khan in china) Europe now has access to silk, ivory, spices, porcelain, new knowledge (paper, printing, gunpowder) Rise of commercial ports like genoa, venice, bruges, etc. Cause of black death: yersinia pestis that infects fleas.
