Ebook: [Article] The Black Death and the Spread of Europe

There is a paradox about the beginning of European expansion in the fifteenth century. This was a time when Europe had only half its normal population, due to the ravages of the Black Death, 1347–52, and its successor epidemics. This essay attempts, first, to resolve some enduring mysteries about the Black Death: What was it? Where was it? How many people did it kill? It then argues that, counter-intuitively, plague had some positive effects on living standards and per capita trade. It also triggered significant restructuring in technology, politics, and socio-economy, which may actually have encouraged and facilitated European expansion.

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