Question

Describe two socioeconomic factors that contributed to the spread of the bubonic plague (the black death) throughout china and western europe.

Answer 1

The spread of the bubonic plague in the 14th century was driven by long-distance trade routes like the Silk Road and compromised urban living conditions that facilitated the proliferation of the disease.

Step-by-step explanation:

Two major socioeconomic factors contributed to the spread of the bubonic plague, commonly referred to as the Black Death, throughout China and Western Europe in the 14th century. First, the expansion and use of long-distance trade routes such as the Silk Road significantly facilitated the spread of the disease, as the movement of merchants and travelers allowed for the transmission of infected fleas and rats to new regions. Secondly, changing social conditions, such as the growth of urban centers with poor sanitation and overcrowded living conditions, created ideal environments for the proliferation of the plague. These factors, alongside technological and cultural exchanges during this era, often through the movement of soldiers and refugees, exacerbated the pandemic's reach, decimating populations and leading to profound economic and social changes.

Answer 2

The bubonic plague was spread by fleas on the backs of rats, rats propagate in urban areas and in areas with great amounts of filth. At the time, the urban population was at an all time high in Europe, and the strain of pushing more and more people into already densely populated areas was really unsanitary conditions. Sewage would often be thrown directly into the street and refuse was often left for months or years accumulating before it became enough of a problem where it'd have to be cleaned up, this was rat heaven. Also with most people migrating into urban areas coming in dirt poor and looking for a job, many were living in houses with dozens of other people and in close quarters disease spreads easily, and there were tons of poor people living in these cities at this time. Eventually once the plague killed enough people, bodies lined the streets everywhere and the plague slowly worked it's way through populations, the rats feeding and thriving on the dead created by the disease, growing in numbers and spreading as the disease did.