Corona Virus: History shows that an epidemic can change civilizations and tear down dynasties
Sunday, June 28, 2020
UPDATimes - The corona virus pandemic dramatically changed the way of life for millions of people in the world.Most of these changes are thought to be temporary.
But some of the diseases recorded by history have long-term effects, such as the fall of a dynasty to the spread of colonialism, even to cool the climate.
The plague of 14th century Black Death and the rise of Western Europe
Europeans prayed desperately that the plague outbreak in the 1350s would soon end.
The scale of the epidemic that hit Europe around 1350 was terrible, killing a third of the population.
But the deaths of tens of millions of people have helped some countries become more advanced, making them some of the richest in the world today.
This large percentage of deaths is believed to originate from the bubonic plague that afflicts many farm laborers. This leaves landowners short of workers.
As a result, agricultural workers have a greater bargaining position.
This outbreak also resulted in the collapse of the old feudalism system where people were forced to work to pay rent for the land they lived in.
This pushed Western Europe towards commercialization and became more modern by developing a cash-based economic system.
Employing people is more expensive, so business owners begin to invest in developing technology to replace people.
There is even a view that this outbreak is encouraging imperialism by European countries.
Sea travel and exploration used to be considered very dangerous. But with death rates so high caused by pagebluk in the homeland, they are more willing to travel long distances.
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This is what drives European colonialism to develop.
Thus, the effects of economic modernization, increased investment in technology and encouragement to expand overseas are believed to be the factors that make Western Europe one of the most powerful regions on earth today.
Smallpox outbreaks in America and climate change
The occupation of the American continent at the end of the 15th century killed so many people that it might change the climate of the world.
A study from the University of College London in England found that the expansion of European colonization caused the population in America to fall dramatically from 60 million (about 10% of the world's population at that time) to five or six million in a hundred years.
Most of these deaths are caused by diseases introduced by invaders.
The biggest killer that Europeans brought to America was smallpox.
Other deadly diseases are measles, influenza, bubonic plague, malaria, diphtheria, typhus and cholera.
This terrible and miserable disaster on the American continent also had another impact on the world.
With the reduction in the number of people on earth, the amount of land that is turned into agriculture or inhabited is also reduced.
Large areas then returned to forests or grasslands.
Such a fruitful area is estimated to be 560,000 square kilometers, the same as France or Kenya.
Large growth of plants and trees causes a drastic reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) levels - and this is recorded in ice samples from Antarctica - resulting in a drop in temperature in various parts of the world.
Scientists believe that this, accompanied by the magnitude of volcanic eruptions and the reduction in solar activity, triggered a period called the "Little Ice Age".
At that time the global climate temperature decreased.
One of the most affected areas is Europe, where crop failure has resulted in starvation.
Yellow fever and the Haitian revolution against France
The plague that occurred in Haiti has led to France leaving North America and increasing the strength of the United States.
In 1801 after a number of slave revolts against colonial rule, Toussaint Louverture became the leader of Haiti in accordance with French approval.
The French leader Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself the ruler for life.
He wants complete control of the island of Haiti and sends tens of thousands of troops to take power there.
On the battlefield, France seemed to succeed.
But there is a yellow fever that is deadly for French troops. About 50,000 soldiers, officers, doctors and sailors died and only 3,000 were left returning to France.
European troops have no natural immunity against this disease which originated in Africa.
With this defeated and morally defeated army, Napoleon then ignored Haiti and its entire ambition to colonize all of North America.
Two years after his forces failed to crush the Haitian uprising, the French leader sold 1.2 million square kilometers of their land to the US government.
This is known in history as the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of the US, which was then still a new state.
Livestock plague and expansion of colonization in Africa
Deadly disease affecting livestock causes the acceleration of European occupation in Africa.
This outbreak did not directly affect humans, but killed animals.
Between 1888 and 1897 the livestock disease virus (rinderpest) killed 90% of cattle in Africa. Communities in the Horn of Africa, West Africa and Southwest Africa have perished because of it.
Death of livestock causes hunger and loss of social life so that residents flee from the affected areas.
Food growing areas are also affected because they rely on livestock to plow the fields.
This chaos made it easier for European countries to colonize much of Africa in the late nineteenth century.
Their plans began several years before the outbreak began.
At a conference in Berlin in 1884-1885, as many as 14 European countries - including Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Belgium and Italy - negotiated their claims to the African region.
Claims on other people's land are formalized and mapped.
The impact, the African continent was shaken violently.
In the decade of the 1870s, only about 10% of the African continent was colonized by Europe, but in the 1900s, European occupation increased by 90%.
This expropriation of African land was aided by the chaos caused by a plague of livestock disease.
Italy invaded Eritrea in the early 1890s which was facilitated by famine in Ethiopia which killed a third of its population.
The UN's history of Africa mentions how "colonization came to an area which was already suffering from the economic crisis and its associated impacts".
Pagebluk and the fall of the Ming Dynasty in China
The Ming Dynasty ruled China for almost three centuries, and their cultural and political influence was enormous throughout East Asia.
But this ended in a disaster, partly because of the paglluk.
A great plague arrived in northern China in 1642, causing a terrible death. In one area between 20% and 40% of the population died.
This hit happened at the same time with drought and attacks from swarms of insects.
Lack of food makes people run out of food. Reportedly, people eat the bodies of epidemic victims.
Most likely, the crisis was caused by a combination of pes pests and malaria.
These diseases might have been brought by invaders from the north, which eventually brought down this great dynasty.
The bandits' attack was followed by organized attacks from Manchuria by the Qing Dynasty which eventually replaced the Ming Dynasty and established their own empire that lasted several centuries.
The Ming Dynasty itself faced many problems, including corruption and hunger, but it was the pagans that swept them from power.
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