5 ms·
I didn't know it went that far east. So it pretty much completely changed the course of events instead of just delaying progress for a few decades...interesting
by throwaway7645 9y ago
I didn't know it went that far east. So it pretty much completely changed the course of events instead of just delaying progress for a few decades...interesting.
- Spooky23 9y agoKeep in mind that the mongols didn't really have the institutions to survive anyway and that the empire was breaking apart anyway. The plague was a stressor that sped some things along.
- boomboomsubban 9y agoThe plague didn't hit until after the Mongol empire fracture. I don't know what institutions you think the Mongols were missing, but an empire that size is just waiting to fragment.
- AnimalMuppet 9y agoPer Wikipedia: "The Black Death is thought to have originated in the arid plains of Central Asia, where it then travelled along the Silk Road, reaching Crimea by 1343.[6] From there, it was most likely carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were regular passengers on merchant ships." So (if they're right), it actually started there, and came west.
- trigger_money 9y agoThe rat flea vector is also the origin of the term "Flea Market".
- lisa_henderson 9y agoYou have it backwards. The plague starts in east Asia, then spreads West along the Silk Road, it arrives at the Black Sea, and then is carried to Venice. Most likely it was in rats that were on the ships which the merchants of Venice operated in the Black Sea. It arrives in Venice in 1347, and the next 36 months are the event that in the West is called The Black Death.
- rurban 9y agoThis was the 1346-53 epidemic. The earlier black death epidemic starting at 541 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_of_Justinian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_of_Justinian) was a bit more influental, and killed about 40% of the population. This came from Egypt to Europe. But recent genetic studies also suggest it came from China instead, same as the later plagues.
- twobyfour 9y agoActually, there are arguments that it enabled progress by disrupting the established order. The beginnings of the Renaissance in Europe date to the decades immediately after the Plague first swept through.