The Role of Disease in Shaping Human History
Effects of the Bubonic Plague, Middle Ages
Picture obtained from: www.virtualtenby.co.uk/ hist-plague.asp
Disease has played an integral role in dictating the success or failure of societies throughout history. Many factors have affected the development of past societies including geography, economic/social conditions, and food production but this analysis will review these factors within the context of disease throughout history. We will review certain highlights of history that have had dramatic impacts on the structure of human societies and reveal how the introduction of disease into certain societies had quite drastic effects, altering their composition and success. As we look at the conditions of certain eras of human history, we can see how disease shaped these cultures and its effect on the interaction of the human race all over the globe. Important eras of focus include ancient, classical, medieval, and modern culture. This study mainly relies on Roy Porter’s Blood & Guts: A Short History of Medicine and Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, which both explore the historical interaction of people and diseases, set in the context of societies and their conditions.
| History of Disease: Its Role in Shaping Human History |
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