the kova 19 pandemic has been one of the most destructive forces in modern times the virus has reached every corner of the globe and wrecked Havoc upon billions of lives we know this only too well slowly and tentatively the world is starting to come back from the worst of the pandemic and as deadly and as devastating as it's been kovitz still wasn't the worst virus to sweep the Earth in fact the Black Death Remains the most disastrous pandemic ever recorded the Black Death raged from around 1347 to 1351 across much of Asia Europe and Northern Africa it is thought to have wiped out 25 million people in Europe alone which was over a third of its population the total number of world fatalities is estimated to be anywhere between 75 to 200 million people in comparison to covet's 6.5 million in a drastically larger population than existed in the 14th century so what was it exactly yeah how did it spread and what were the consequences the Black Death was a form of the bubonic plague it started off in the form of a bacteria known as yersenia pestis the bacteria lives in small rodents and leads to plague and humans if they're infected during the Black Death it's thought that your senior pestis bacteria spread from rats to humans often via fleas after fleas fed on Infected rodents they then jump to humans immediately spreading the infection in the form of a deadly plank rats and fleas were virtually everywhere during the Middle Ages and sailors traveling from Asia to Europe on rant infested ships soon brought the plague with them once a person was infected the bacteria could be transmitted through the air by touch and even by coming into contact with an area previously occupied by a plague carrier aside from what it was however let's look at exactly where the Black Death originated and how it spread it is believed that the plague originated in China in the early 1330s and the Chinese Northeastern province of hopai a plague broke out that killed around 5 million people which was two-thirds of the population at the time from here the Black Death made its way West Via trade routes like the Silk Road people became infected in India North Africa and Central Asia in the 1340s Mongol Chief kipchak janabeg LED an attack on the genoan city of Katha which was a major trading center on the Black Sea jundenberg was able to proceed to the Italians however he soon lost control of the situation as his men became severely affected by the plaque soldiers were dying in vast quantities in genderberg was forced to pull out before doing so though he made a final devastating call that was to have massive consequences in what was probably one of the earliest examples of biological warfare the Mongol ruler decided to use his catapons to fling the plague-infested corpses of his men into the city of Jaffa the Italians were already living in dire conditions due to being besieged and they too soon became severely infected as the Mongol corpses quickly spread the pandemic from here genoese ships took the black death to Western ports in the Mediterranean and the plague soon spread Inland across much of Europe by around 1348 Italy Spain and France had all been exposed to this merciless pandemic it soon spread North to Germany Austria Switzerland and Holland eventually a ship from kalais carried the plague to England and deaths began to soar the effects were sudden and they were horrific typical symptoms included swelling all over the body with black apple-sized oils that continuously leaked blood fevers severe pains and vomiting soon followed with death coming in a matter of days if not hours some victims will be fine in the morning contract the black death during the afternoon and be dead the following day people thus fled areas with high numbers of infections with family members even deserting sick loved ones to save themselves if a house was known to have infected inhabitants it was burned to the ground there was no knowledge of how to treat the plank other than ancient methods like bathing and vinegar and herbs doctors tried Lansing Boyles which was not only ineffective but doubly dangerous as a result medical practitioners simply refused to see anyone suffering from the plague because people were powerless to treat or prevent the Black Death many assumed that it was an act of God punishing anyone who had sinned or lived an immoral life this led to outbursts of anti-Semitism across much of Europe and many turned to the church hoping that prayer would lead to a blessing from the plague when this failed it led to a plummeting in faith in a decline in the power of the medieval Church entire towns and Villages were just wiped clean urban areas suffered more than rural areas due to the congested populations and greater numbers of disease spreading rodents and fleas this was no guarantee of safety though as the pandemic spread deep into the more remote regions infecting livestock and pets so huge was the number of dying that many were buried in Mass Graves known as plague pits these have been found across Europe sometimes with over 100 skeletons in the remains by 1400 the population of England alone was estimated to have to since the century earlier by only 1350 at least half of Italy's population had just died Paris lost approximately 50 000 people in less than a year and it took some countries another 80 to 100 years to replace their populations in the late 1340s the Black Death continued to spread cutting a Gorge through Scandinavian and Baltic countries the pandemic kept on flaring through the 14th century via the treacherous trade routes running between Asia and Europe as a result of the devastation brought about by the Black Death ongoing conflicts and Wars ceased almost immediately and so did International Trade although it kick-started again after the warns to the plank had finished in the early 1350s surprisingly there were some positives to come out of the Black Death with the massive drop in populations landowners suddenly found themselves lacking laborers and workers to farm on their land labor is in very high demand and the supply was drastically Limited this enabled the peasant class to demand higher wages and just better conditions in general many land openers were reluctant but soon realized that the peasants had the bargaining power while many peasants had previously worked in exchange for a land space on which to live wages were now being offered these wages gradually increased and the laboring classes began to enjoy higher and higher incomes and more spending power for food and clothing the Black Death also led to a trend that we're all too familiar with social distancing Joy City officials in Sicily realize that by isolating Sailors who were suspected to be infected they would better be able to control the spread of the plank in these cases Sailors were initially kept on their ships for 30 days this was then increase to 40 days a period known as Quran tagorni giving birth to the term quarantine even with all that nevertheless the Black Death was by no means the only other devastating pandemic in history from 1918 to 1920 the Spanish flu killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide making it the second deadliest pandemic ever seen but in the end nothing has ever come close to the levels of mortality seen with a black death and hopefully no matter how unpredictable pandemics may be we will never come close as we did in the horrific plague outbreak in the 1300s thank you [Music] foreign