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2º ESO/PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE BLACK DEATH - Contenido educativo

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Subido el 29 de noviembre de 2020 por Alicia M.

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Imagine if half the people in your neighborhood, your city, or even your whole country were wiped 00:00:06
out. It might sound like something out of an apocalyptic horror film, but it actually happened 00:00:11
in the 14th century during a disease outbreak known as the Black Death. Spreading from China 00:00:17
through Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, the devastating epidemic destroyed as much as 00:00:23
one-fifth of the world's population, killing nearly 50% of Europeans in just four years. 00:00:29
One of the most fascinating and puzzling things about the Black Death is that the illness itself 00:00:35
was not a new phenomenon, but one that has affected humans for centuries. DNA analysis 00:00:40
of bone and tooth samples from this period, as well as an earlier epidemic known as the 00:00:46
Plague of Justinian in 541 CE, has revealed that both were caused by Yersinia pestis, 00:00:51
the same bacterium that causes bubonic plague today. 00:00:57
What this means is that the same disease caused by the same pathogen 00:01:01
can behave and spread very differently throughout history. 00:01:05
Even before the use of antibiotics, the deadliest outbreaks in modern times, 00:01:09
such as the ones that occurred in early 20th century India, 00:01:14
killed no more than 3% of the population. 00:01:17
Modern instances of plague also tend to remain localized or travel slowly 00:01:21
as they are spread by rodent fleas. But the medieval Black Death, which spread like wildfire, 00:01:25
was most likely communicated directly from one person to another. And because genetic comparisons 00:01:31
of ancient and modern strains of Yersinia pestis have not revealed any significantly functional 00:01:36
genetic differences, the key to why the earlier outbreak was so much deadlier must lie not in the 00:01:41
parasite but the host. For about 300 years during the High Middle Ages, a warmer climate and 00:01:47
agricultural improvements had led to explosive population growth throughout Europe. But with 00:01:53
so many new mouths to feed, the end of this warm period spelled disaster. High fertility rates 00:01:58
combined with reduced harvests meant the land could no longer support its population, while 00:02:04
the abundant supply of labor kept wages low. As a result, most Europeans in the early 14th century 00:02:09
experienced a steady decline in living standards, marked by famine, poverty, and poor health, 00:02:16
leaving them vulnerable to infection. And indeed, the skeletal remains of Black Death victims found 00:02:21
in London show telltale signs of malnutrition and prior illness. The destruction caused by 00:02:27
the Black Death changed humanity in two important ways. On a societal level, the rapid loss of 00:02:33
population led to important changes in Europe's economic conditions. With more food to go around, 00:02:39
as well as more land and better pay for the surviving farmers and workers, 00:02:45
people began to eat better and live longer, as studies of London cemeteries have shown. 00:02:49
Higher living standards also brought an increase in social mobility, 00:02:55
weakening feudalism, and eventually leading to political reforms. 00:02:58
But the plague also had an important biological impact. The sudden death of so many of the most 00:03:02
frail and vulnerable people left behind a population with a significantly different 00:03:08
gene pool, including genes that may have helped survivors resist the disease. 00:03:12
And because such mutations often confer immunities to multiple pathogens that work in similar ways, 00:03:16
research to discover the genetic consequences of the Black Death has the potential to be hugely beneficial. 00:03:23
Today, the threat of an epidemic on the scale of the Black Death has been largely eliminated thanks to antibiotics. 00:03:29
But the bubonic plague continues to kill a few thousand people worldwide every year. 00:03:35
And the recent emergence of a drug-resistant strain threatens the return of darker times. 00:03:40
Learning more about the causes and effects of the Black Death is important, 00:03:45
not just for understanding how our world has been shaped by the past, 00:03:49
it may also help save us from a similar nightmare in the future. 00:03:53
Subido por:
Alicia M.
Licencia:
Dominio público
Visualizaciones:
76
Fecha:
29 de noviembre de 2020 - 12:29
Visibilidad:
Público
Centro:
IES LA SENDA
Duración:
04′ 12″
Relación de aspecto:
1.78:1
Resolución:
1920x1080 píxeles
Tamaño:
111.07 MBytes

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