Sometimes a disease changes everything.

In Western Europe, it all started with fleas on rats.

Life was already hard in Western Europe

during the 1300s. Food prices had risen and hunger and starvation increased.

And then, a terribledisease enteredWestern Europe

along traderoutes from

Asia. In a few years, this diseaseled to the deaths

of one-third ofWestern Europe’s

population.

The disease’s formal name wasBubonic Plague but people called it the

Black Death.

In 1348, Bubonic Plague enteredWestern Europe. Buboes or swellings

and black spots formed on victims.

Infected peopleusually

died within a

few days.

Merchants and travelers spread the disease.

Infected fleas on rats bit peopleand these infected people spreadthe disease through coughing and

breathing.

There werefewer peopleleft to work

and pay taxes.As the populationdecreased, other

changes occurred.

A decrease in population ledto decreases in food prices and

increases in wages. Can you figureout why?

The plague changed everything.It was one of the factors that ledto the decline of the Middle Ages

and a new era in Western Europe.

After all this death, people wantedlife again.

The Big Seven:

1. What was the Bubonic Plague?2. Why was it called the Black Death?3. Where did the disease originate?4. How did the disease enter Europe?5. What percentage of the population died?6. How did the disease affect food prices?7. How did the disease affect wages?