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How Did The Black Death Affect Society

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Around the late 1300’s something big came into Europe, something that would drastically change the country for the better. The plague, also known as ‘black death”, killed almost half of the European population. This led to economic depression. Merchants and traders had fewer people to sell goods to, so a lot of money was lost. At least 75 million people on three continents perished due to the painful, highly contagious disease. The Black Death originated in China or Central Asia and was spread to Europe by fleas and rats that resided on ships and along the Silk Road . The Black Death killed millions in China, India, Persia (Iran), the Middle East, the Caucasus, and North Africa. To harm the citizens during a siege in 1346, Mongol armies may have thrown infected corpses over the city wall of Caffa, on the Crimean peninsula of the Black Sea. Italian traders from Genoa were also infected and returned home in 1347, introducing the Black Death into Europe. From Italy, the disease spread to France, Spain, Portugal, England, Germany, Russia, and Scandinavia. Depopulation and shortage of labor hastened changes already inherent in the rural economy; the substitution of wages for labor services was accelerated, and social stratification became less rigid. Psychological morbidity affected the arts; in religion, the lack of educated personnel among the clergy gravely reduced the intellectual vigor of the church. Once the plague came to an end in the 15th century, a new movement in art

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