The Black Death probably began somewhere in the Gobi, a desert in central Asia.
but in the
knownasthe Black It had been around for centuries,
A terribleplague,
_F1$14-.1;
killing 1300s,it began to spread farther and more
in the 1300s,
nuiiti, sw.ptthroughEurope
quickly than ever before' Scientists are still
millions.
not sure why this haPPened.
youeverbeengivena shotto
Focus Have
Reading
Historians believe the Mongol Empire
disease?
youfromanother
prevent
thefluorto prote(t
modern was partly responsible for the plague
before
inEurope
whathappened
Read
to learn
spreading so fast. The empire covered ali
diseases.
contagious
control
could
medicine
the land from Eastern Europe through central Asia to China. The Mongols opened up
The Middle Ages in EuroPe reached a
trade between China, India, the Middle
high point during the 1200s. In the 1300s,
East, and Europe. They encouraged the use
however, disaster struck. A terrible plague
of the Silk Road and other trade routes.
(PLAYG),known as the Black Death, swept
By the early 1300s,more goods were
across Europe and Asia. A plague is a disbeing shipped across central Asia than ever
ease that spreads quickly and kills many
before. This made it possible for the Black
people. Most scientists think the Black
Death to spread rapidly as caravans
disease
Death was bubonic plague-a
infested with rats carried it from city to city'
caused by a type of bacteria carried by fleas'
The first outbreak took place in China in
These fleas infested black rats, and in the
1331. It erupted there again in 1353. The
Middle Ages, these rats were everywhere'
Death
TheBlack
The BlackDeath in Asia
Sarai
Astr.akhan.t
V Detaitfrom a
medievaIPainting
the
representing
BtackDeath
I,OOo ml
O
c
ts+e
F-=-r'r
o
l,ooo km
\
Blach
Sec
\
Samar
N Caspion'
'Sea
l
t
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rI f " P/-Baqhdad
er
*/.'I4+
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PACIFIC
OCEAN
...
UsingGeographySkills
KEY
{.*-
Sea trade routes
Land trade routes
ocEAN I
Areas of plague
tsao Date of breakout
554
CHAPTER15
MedievalEuroPe
r^,^
ln the 1300s,threBtackDeath spreadquickty
through Asia and then into EuroPe.
1. When did the BlackDeatharrivein the
ArabianPeninsuta?
2. Basedon this map,how do you think the
BtackDeathwas spreadthroughAsia?
diseasekilled between40 anci
60 million
China,spopulationnearly
,O-":lf,f"rting
As many as 19_38million Europeans_
nearly one out of every two peopie_died
of the Black Death between 7347
and1351.
The death of
m naff. lhe diseaseappeared
in India in thl
7340s and reached Makkah,
deep inside
Muslim lands, in7349.In
the meantime, it
also spread to Europe.
down. Trade declined ur"rd
fhe Black Death_appeared
wu'g", rose
in Europe in
s_harplybecauseworkers *".e fe#
7346 at the city of Caffa on
and in
the Black Sea.
demand. At the same time, fewer
The city had been under attack
people
by Mongols
meant less demand for food,
*l:"
the plague erupted. The
and
food
Mongols,
prices
fell.
w1th. their troops dying,
cailed off the
Landlords found they had to pay
In anger they also threw bodies
work_
lttack.
of
ers more and charge lower ,"r_rtr.
infected soldiers into the city.
Some
peasantsbargainedwith their lords
Ca{fa was a trade .olony controlled
to pay
by
rent instead of owing services.
Italian merchants from the
This meant
city of Genoa.
that they were no longer serfs.
In
ships carried the plague to
thls way,
Siciiy in
Jheir
the plague, like the Lrusades,
October 7347. From thlre"it
helped
to
spread into
the
system
Europe. By the end of 1g4g,
and
change
.feudal
I::l"l
it had spread
European
society.
through France and Germany
and had
arrived in England. By 735I,
iIf,.lEEIJJIEff!.giE tdentify How manv
ithad reached
Europeans
diedof the plague-U"t*""nii'+z
Scandinavia,Eastern-Europe,
and l{ussia.
a n d1 3 5 1 ?
1300s
turned
r"'.'r?il1l"t"::,'i,1"
.lir,T:
th"gt"cko""@
North
Sea
*-)
ankfur[.
q
tr
o
. Kiev
E
tr
.
)oodf
Milan,,
ju":'t"
r Flordnce
, Rope
tr
.9
20
oo
0
KEY
spread of disease:
oy 1347
by t3sl
oy r34s &*W by rsss
I
e
loo
tg
4
^
t:
Partially or totally
spared
Seriously afiected
By 1353,the BlackDeath had
affected
most of Europe.
1. Wherein Europehad the Btack
Death
spreadby 1347?
2. By what year had the BlackDeath
reached
areason the BalticSea?