The Effects Of The Black Death On — страница 2

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causing agriculture to decline. It was lucky that although the plague wiped out such a large amount of population, urban populations recovered quickly. There was lots of immigration because of increased opportunities in the cities, which caused the population to rebuild faster. The sudden drastic decrease and slow recovery of population was what caused the economy of Europe to rise and fall following the Black Death. The terribly low population due to the extremely high death rate from the plague caused the European economy to collapse and be prosperous all at the same time. Financial businesses were disrupted because debtors died and their creditors found themselves with no way out. Severe labour shortages caused construction projects to come to a temporary halt, sometimes even

permanently. Mills and heavy machinery may have broken down and the one man in the entire city who knew how to repair them would have died of the Black Death.4 Even guilds that lost their most prized craftsmen found it much too difficult to replace them. Most important of all, the volume of trade declined. Obviously, the cities were hit hardest by the plague. There were more deaths in the cities than in rural areas because the densely populated cities allowed for the bacillus to spread more easily to more people. Low population would cause the economy to repair itself slower than normal. Aside from the shortage of labour and workers and the sharp decline of trade, cloth merchants, peasants, and small villages prospered. The cloth merchants prospered because shroud was in high

demand. A surplus of land left by the people who died gave the peasants an opportunity for economic security. Even small villages began to become prosperous because of charitable institutions, market places, and the rebuilding of churches. Wages rose because specialists were in high demand and because of high mortality rates there was a large surplus of goods, therefore causing prices to drop on commodities. Positively, the standards of living would rise for the living remainder of the European people. Even after several recurrences of the plague, Europe continually rebuilt itself gradually becoming stronger every time. Although there were many more negative effects on Medieval Europe than positive in Europe?s culture, politics, population, and economy it is said that the plague

balanced the European population for the future.5 The Black Death pandemic displayed the might of the European continent and its will to survive through times of crisis. Word count: 1052