Well.. I started my venture into the world of history with
Coursera I must recommend this for all who are in quest for knowledge. A Good
beginning for me but not so good end; December work pressure and holidays
didn't allow me the complete it. Nevertheless I gained a lot of knowledge and
got drawn more into history, which I felt very boring during my school days!!
The event of Black Death was indeed a milestone in the world history and has definitely played an important role in shaping the events that defined the world after math. Of course this event would have been an influence to many such events, but I would limit here to a few such events for the scope of this assignment.
Power Vacuum and rise of Ming Dynasty in China: With the barbaric Mangols controlling the entire silk route and Mongolian rule being at its peak before the Black Death, people would have felt better as their rule ended with this dramatic event. This would have also made sure that there is enough void and vacuum created in China for political and military power. As the history goes, ethnic Han Chinese seized this opportunity to liberate China which was under control of non-ethnic Mangols. The Ming dynasty is described by some as 'one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history' [5].
Posting a few essays I have written under this section and
these represent only my views.
Black death is one of the most devastating events in the human history which occurred around during 13th century and is believed to be have its origins in Central Asia and or China and spread it wings to europe via silk route. this post attempts to explain What changed, and
what survived, as a result of the plagues and disasters of the
fourteenth-century in Afro-Eurasia?
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| The Triumph of Death : A painitng Source Wiki |
Power Vacuum and rise of Ming Dynasty in China: With the barbaric Mangols controlling the entire silk route and Mongolian rule being at its peak before the Black Death, people would have felt better as their rule ended with this dramatic event. This would have also made sure that there is enough void and vacuum created in China for political and military power. As the history goes, ethnic Han Chinese seized this opportunity to liberate China which was under control of non-ethnic Mangols. The Ming dynasty is described by some as 'one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history' [5].
Transportation: With the silk route falling under the most
affected zones of Black Death, it would have probably necessitated the need of
exploring other forms of the trade route. The desire of directly trading with
China and perhaps India, and the disadvantages of travelling by land, the
limited consignments that one can carry over the land, the risk and rewards
especially after Black Death probably explains the sea voyages that we witness
after the Black Death. Necessity is the mother of invention; I would rather
believe that this event in the history of the world was a catalyst for new
inventions and explorations.
Economic benefits: The deaths of such a size and magnitude
with some countries losing 40% of their population [4] would have definitely
caused shortage of labor in a hugely agrarian and merchant based economy. The
abandoned fields would have been an opportunity for many of those who survived,
the wars would have taken a break which would have ensured some peace and
stability for some time, the surviving labor force could have demanded more
wages, thereby increasing in spending. Collectively above factors could have
contributed in rise of capitalism, urbanization and industrialization [2].
Effect on India: Surprisingly, Indian history doesn’t
recognize this event of Black Death in a significant manner or at least I
haven’t come across those since my school age. But even though the Mangol
Invaders in the form of Timur the Lame plundered India and her cities, but it
was Timur's great great grandson Babur later in the 1526 founded the Mughal
Dynasty in India, who were to most stable rules of Pre-British era in India
[7].
Survival of the fittest as the phrase goes in the biological
evolutionary theory: With a near wipe out of mankind with most populated,
traded route in the world the ones who survived were arguably stronger, had
more resistance and were probably the fittest. To put it simply they had the
genes that could endure this. And as per the general Darwinian philosophies, it
would have helped mankind to evolve further with the best of the available
genes, which in turn helped to build a better human race in the long run. The
events we see such as Rise of Ming dynasty, Renaissance in Europe are mere
testimonials of the race that was left out were more intellectually capable
beings who were taking the world towards a better future
