The Black Death: The Mother of All PandemicsJordan GentileGarland B BlockThe Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemics ever and it changed Europe forever. The Black Death originated in Mongolia and China, marmots. The Black Death decimated Europe, leaving death in its wake. Most of the treatments and rules put in place to “stop” the plague only made the situation worse. The Black Death changed the course of European society and sparked the Renaissance. Mongolian marmots served as a breeding ground for the Black Death. The Black Death was caused by a flea disease that blocked the lining of the fleas' stomachs. When the flea fed, it took blood from its victim, it vomited blood to its victim, thus giving them the plague. These fleas would be driven into a feeding frenzy when they contracted this disease, trying to feed on as many things as possible. For this reason, when they ran out of rats or marmots, which they preferred to humans, they fed on humans out of desperation. A group of Chinese merchants discovered a large herd of dying Mongolian marmots and sought to make a quick profit from selling the fur. When they started selling the fur to people, the Black Death began to spread because infected fleas were all over the fur. During their war, the Mongols besieged Caffa and began to die from the plague. They began throwing their infected corpses over the walls as a last ditch effort to get them to surrender, but first they had to retreat. However, the city became infected and people tried to flee before becoming infected. But it was too late because the rats carrying the infected fleas were already on board the ships. When...... middle of paper ....... The Black Death was a terrifying and destructive pandemic that ravaged Europe and changed what it would be like in the future. It started in Mongolia, spread to Europe, raged there for 5 years, causing deaths almost everywhere, and forever changed the way Europe would evolve. It caused the Church to lose power and gave power to the peasants and serfs, thus allowing the beginning of the Renaissance. If the Black Death had not affected Europe, there might not even have been a Renaissance. An author who survived the Black Death, Giovanni Boccaccio, wrote this about the Black Death: "How many valiant men, charming ladies and handsome young men whom even Galen, Hippocrates and Aesculapius would have judged in perfect health , dined with their family, companions and friends in the morning then in the evening with their ancestors in the other world?”