We are fresh of a pandemic. Covid 19 has been one hell of a experience. Still it hasn't left us entirely yet. And people still are getting affected. The pandemic has hit our world and it's economy like a train. A mess that we're still trying to fix.bBut what if I say this is nothing compared to the biggest pandemic in the history of the world?
Well, you won't be surprised because I literally said it's the biggest. So it is the Bubonic plague, or the black death, different names in different regions. Lives can change but plagues and pandemics will always be from China. Yes, this one was too.
Back in the 6th century. The bubonic plague mainly spread from fleas which dwelled on rats. So after originating in China, when these rats would travel along with humans along the Mediterranean, the plague would spread too. And back then there were no antibiotics, so basically no cure to this disease.
Also people couldn't ever imagine they could get affected by a disease which is coming from a rat. That time was the peak of the byzantine empire. And it was huge. And obviously it had a lot of interconnected trade routes. So after the rats somehow managed to get inside the byzantine walls, it spread like wildfire. Wiping away almost 40% of the population of the empire. This crippled the byzantine empire. Crippled it so much that this empire never recovered to it's former glory. Constantly shrinking and the Arabs raging on saw the end of the famous Byzantine empire. Yes, a huge empire which has lived on in our memories till this day, was killed off by a pandemic.
Fast forwarding 700 years. Into the 1300s. This time it was originated in, you guessed it right, Wuhan, or near Wuhan to be precise. This disease then travelled through the silk road by the mongols all the way to modern Ukraine. There a war was ongoing. That port in Ukraine was a trading outpost for many Italian based businesses. So the plague travelled from that port to Italy too. Of course it was killing people along the way. After entering Italy this plague wrecked havoc on Europe. Killing millions of people. One estimate says almost six out of every ten people died in that plague. Europe was emptied by this plague. Suddenly peasants and workers who survived the plague were at a better position on the bargaining table. Because there were simply no people to compete with. They eventually got better pay for their work, bought land on the cheap, simply because there were literally nobody to claim it from them or replace them. Reports suggest the great bubonic plague or the black death killed around 200 million people in a world of around 500 million people. Obviously you can imagine this plague changed the world forever. What could have been.
The bubonic plague isn't still fully eradicated. Even after all these modern technologies of medical science, the disease is still out there, only good thing is that it isn't killing millions now.