The Black Death caused such a big disturbance in Western Europe that feudalism ended and capitalism arrived as a result. Why did this not happen in Eastern Europe? Now we can propose some ideas about it:
Analysis of fossil pollen suggests that populations in some areas grew despite the plague’s rampage.
Ancient pollen collected from this peat bog in northern Poland hints that the Black Death did not ravage the local population. Credit: Mariusz Lamentowicz
The fourteenth-century pandemic known as the Black Death might not have been as devastating as was previously thought, an analysis of ancient pollen suggests1.
Historians estimate that the wave of bubonic plague that struck Europe and Asia in the mid-1300s killed about half of the people in Europe, at a time when most lived in rural areas. To investigate the Black Death’s true toll, Alessia Masi at the Sapienza University of Rome and her colleagues analysed ancient pollen from 261 lakes and wetlands across Europe. By assessing the varieties of pollen, the researchers determined whether fields and pastures had been abandoned after the plague and eventually replaced by forests.
Levels of pollen from species common in agricultural lands were much lower in Scandinavia, France, western Germany, Greece and central Italy between 1350 and 1450 than during the previous 100 years. This suggests high mortality rates.
But in other regions, including Ireland and much of eastern Europe, agricultural activities were stable and even expanded, suggesting that populations there were growing.
Factors such as local economies and weather might have caused the pandemic’s course to vary across European regions, the authors say." [1]
Because Covid-induced mortality in China was very low, the chances of a significant historical change there after the pandemic are slim. The same cannot be said of Europe and the United States.
1. Nature 602, 550 (2022)
Komentarų nėra:
Rašyti komentarą