In the fifth and sixth decade of the fourteenth century, an epidemic of plague caused death-threatening orgy in Europe. One third of the population of Europe was absorbed in the cheeks of this epidemic. But this epidemic, which took tens of millions of lives, proved to be a boon for many European countries.
After the death of such a large number of its citizens, many countries have extended themselves so much that they are among the rich countries of the world today. Due to the death of such a large number of people from the Black Death, bubonic plague, the number of people available to work in the fields has reduced greatly.
This started hurting the landlords. The farmers who were left with increased bargaining power with the landlords. As a result, the feudal system of the countries of Western Europe started to break down. The peasants who were forced to work in the zamindars' fields to pay their revenue, began to be freed from the captivity of the zamindars.
This change gave rise to the practice of working on wages. Due to which Western Europe moved towards a more modern, commercial and cash based economy. Since it was now becoming expensive for the landlords to pay laborers.
Start of sea voyages
This compulsion forced him to invest in such technology, in which the expenditure was less. Workers need less and the work is done. So that money can be saved by reducing costs. It is also said that this is where Western European countries started imperialism. The people of Europe started long sea voyages.
Before that, long sea voyages and exploration were considered expensive and dangerous. But, after the death of such a large number of people from the plague, these long sea journeys started to seem less risky to the people. The people of Europe had seen so many deaths due to the plague in their place that the fear of their lives was gone.
And he was willing to go anywhere in search of new world. When the people of Europe went to other areas, they got a chance to further increase their economy. Then he started colonialism too. So it can be said that after the plague new energy came in Western Europe.
And the modernization of the economy forced him to develop new technology. West European countries emerged as powerful in the world due to the scale they built their colonies abroad and the money they earned from there. Even today, due to the same progress, many countries of Western Europe are dominating the world.
Smallpox death and climate change in America
European countries had established their empire by the end of the fifteenth century, spreading colonialism across the American continents. European forces killed so many people here in the course of the expansion of their empire that it would have changed the air of the world.
A study by scientists from the University College of London in Britain found that after the expansion of Europe, the population of America was around six crores (which was ten percent of the total population of the world at that time) in just one century to six million. Has gone.
After the European colonization was established in America, those diseases were responsible for most of the deaths in these areas, which these colonists took to America with them. The biggest disease among them was smallpox.
Other diseases included measles, cholera, malaria, plague, whooping cough, and typhus, which killed millions of people. Due to these diseases, people in these areas suffered unbearable pain. Life was also damaged on a large scale. And the whole world suffered as a result of this.
World temperature decrease
Due to reduced population, farming was reduced. And a large area itself naturally turned into large pastures and forests. According to an estimate, due to this reason, the area of about 5 lakh 60 thousand square kilometers in the American continents was transformed into forests in a similar way.
This area is equal to the area of Kenya or France. Due to such large scale plantation, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere came down (these facts have been found in Antarctica ice samples). And the temperature in many parts of the world has come down.
Scientists believe that with increased greenery in the US, large-scale volcanic eruptions and decreased sun activity, the world's temperature also decreased. And, the world moved towards a phase that we called 'Little Ice Age' Or 'mini ice age'.
The irony is that the European countries which brought this devastation in the US with the expansion of their empire, Europe was also the victim of climate change due to it. There was a lot of crop destruction and Europe had to face drought like situation.
Haiti uprising against Yellow Fever and France
The outbreak of an epidemic in the Caribbean country of Haiti played a huge role in driving France out of North America. And after this America was developed as a big and powerful country. And he had moved towards becoming a superpower.
In 1801, many of the slaves revolted against the colonial powers of Europe in the Caribbean country Haiti. After several revolts, Tussaint Lovetour was finally settled with France and became the ruler of Haiti.
On the other hand, in France, Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself the ruler of the country for a lifetime. Napoleon thought of occupying the entire island of Haiti. So he sent tens of thousands of soldiers to fight there to take over Haiti. These fighters from France proved to be very brave in the battlefield
Colonial expansion of france
But they could not save themselves from the outbreak of yellow fever or yellow fever. According to an estimate, about fifty thousand soldiers, officers, doctors of France succumbed to this fever and succumbed to death. Only three thousand of the French troops captured on Haiti could return to France.
The soldiers of Europe did not have the strength to withstand this fever, which was of people of African descent. This defeat forced Napoleon to leave the colony of Haiti alone. Rather, Napoleon also abandoned his dream of colonial expansion of France in North America.
Only two years after the failed occupation of Haiti. The leader of France sold the Caribbean island covering 21 million million square kilometers to the new government of America. It is also known as Louisiana Purchase. After which, the area of the new country America increased and doubled.
Animal epidemics in Africa
An epidemic among animals in Africa helped European countries to expand their empire here. However, this was not an outbreak in which a direct human death occurred. However, the epidemic had made the animals largely their prey.
Between 1888 and 1897, the virus named rinderpest killed about 90 percent of domesticated animals in Africa. It is also called plague in animals. The death of animals on such a large scale has cost many communities living in the Horn of Africa, West Africa and South-Western Africa.
There was a scatter in the society here. Starvation spread. Since people used oxen for farming. So, when the bulls were no more, farming also ended. Such a worsening situation in Africa created an atmosphere for European countries to establish their colonies over a large part of Africa in the late nineteenth century.
Control of european forces
However, European countries had planned to establish their empire in Africa many years before the outbreak of Rinderpest virus. From 1884 to 1885, a conference of European countries was held in Berlin, the capital of Germany.
In which 14 countries of Europe, Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Portugal and Italy took part. These countries bargained to establish their own colonies in Africa. Only after that it was decided that in which part of Africa which country would establish its empire.
In the 1870s, only 10 percent of Africa was under European powers. But by 1900, 90 percent of Africa had been controlled by colonial powers. The outbreak of Rinderpest virus helped European countries grab land in Africa.
Italy began empire expansion in Eritrea in 1890. He was also helped in this work by the famine caused by rinderpest, due to which one third of the population of Ethiopia was killed.
The outbreak of the plague and the decline of the Ming dynasty in China
Colonialism in the continent of Africa is mentioned in the United Nations History of Africa in this way, 'Imperialism in Africa attacked at a time when the people there were already facing a great economic crisis. And other evils related to it came with imperialism. '
The Ming dynasty ruled in China for nearly three centuries. Throughout its reign, this dynasty left a tremendous political and cultural influence on a large area of East Asia. But the end of such a powerful dynasty was very disastrous because of the plague.
But, an epidemic played an important role in the downfall of this very powerful dynasty. In the year 1641, a plague-like epidemic struck northern China, killing a large number of people. In some areas, due to the plague, the population was lost from 20 to 40 percent.
The plague in China knocked at a time when it was struggling with drought and locust outbreaks. The crops were destroyed. People did not have food to eat. The situation had become so bad that when people had nothing to eat, then, they started scratching the dead bodies of people who had died of plague, starvation and drought.
Ming Dynasty of China
In China, this crisis was born due to diseases like malaria and plague spreading simultaneously. It may also be that these diseases came here in China with the invaders coming from the north and these invaders completely overthrew the Ming Dynasty from China.
And then established his kingdom and ruled China for centuries. Initially, these attacks on China were started by the bandits and robbers. But later the kings of the Qing dynasty of Manchuria invaded China in an organized manner. And ended the Ming dynasty forever.
Then he declared himself the new ruler of China. The Qing Sultanate ruled China for many centuries. By the way, factors like drought and corruption were also responsible for the elimination of China's Ming dynasty. But the outbreak of terrible diseases and epidemics also played an important role in its elimination.
