Research Assistant-Faculty of Nursing-TIU – Erbil
The history of epidemiology is very detailed and includes extensive efforts to discover the origins of diseases. The epidemiology history will be explained in two sections within Shayan Magazine.
Some of the worst epidemics and pandemics in history have doomed whole civilizations and brought once-powerful nations to their knees, killing millions. While these terrible disease outbreaks still threaten humanity, thanks to the advances in epidemiology, we no longer face the same dire consequences as our ancestors once did.
About 5,000 years ago, an epidemic wiped out a prehistoric village in China.
The bodies of the dead were piled inside a house that was later burned down. No age group was spared, as the skeletons of juveniles, young adults, and middle-aged people were found inside the house.
The archaeological site is now called “Hamin Mangha” and is one of the best-preserved prehistoric sites in northeastern China. Archaeological and anthropological studies indicate that the epidemic happened quickly enough that there was no time for proper burial, and the site was not inhabited again.
Before the discovery of Hamin Mangha, another prehistoric mass burial that dates to roughly the same period was found at a site called Miaozigou in northeastern China, together, these discoveries suggest that an epidemic ravaged the entire region.
Around 430 B.C., not long after a war between Athens and Sparta began, an epidemic ravaged the people of Athens and lasted for five years. Some estimates put the death toll as high as 100,000 people. The Greek historian Thucydides (460-400 B.C.) wrote that “people in good health were all of a sudden attacked by violent heats in the head, and redness and inflammation in the eyes, the inward parts, such as the throat or tongue, becoming bloody and emitting an unnatural and fetid breath.”
What exactly this epidemic was has long been a source of debate among scientists; several diseases have been put forward as possibilities, including typhoid fever and Ebola. Many scholars believe that overcrowding caused by the war exacerbated the epidemic. Sparta’s army was stronger, forcing the Athenians to take refuge behind a series of fortifications called the “long walls” that protected their city. Despite the epidemic, the war continued, not ending until 404 B.C., when Athens was forced to capitulate to Sparta.
When soldiers returned to the Roman Empire from campaigning, they brought back more than the spoils of victory. The Antonine Plague, which may have been smallpox, laid waste to the army and may have killed over 5 million people in the Roman Empire,
Many historians believe the epidemic was first brought into the Roman Empire by soldiers returning home after a war against Parthia. The epidemic contributed to the end of the Pax Romana (the Roman Peace) from 27 B.C. to A.D. 180, when Rome was at the height of its power. After A.D. 180, instability grew throughout the Roman Empire as it experienced more civil wars and invasions by “barbarian” groups. Christianity became increasingly popular after the plague occurred.
The Byzantine Empire was ravaged by the bubonic plague, which marked the start of its decline. The plague reoccurred periodically afterward. Some estimates suggest that up to 10% of the world’s population died.
The plague is named after the Byzantine Emperor Justinian (reigned A.D. 527-565). Under his reign, the Byzantine Empire reached its greatest extent, controlling territory that stretched from the Middle East to Western Europe. Justinian constructed a great cathedral known as Hagia Sophia (“Holy Wisdom”) in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), the empire’s capital. Justinian also got sick with the plague but survived. However, his empire gradually lost territory after the plague struck.
The Black traveled from Asia to Europe, leaving devastation in its wake. Some estimates suggest that it wiped out over half of Europe’s population. It was caused by a strain of the bacterium Yersinia pestis that is likely extinct today and was spread by fleas on infected rodents. The bodies of victims were buried in mass graves.
The plague changed the course of Europe’s history. With so many dead, labor became harder to find, bringing about better pay for workers and the end of Europe’s system of serfdom. Studies suggest that surviving workers had better access to meat and higher-quality bread. The lack of cheap labor may also have contributed to technological innovation.
The American Plagues were a cluster of Eurasian diseases brought to the Americas by European explorers. These illnesses, including smallpox, contributed to the collapse of the Inca and Aztec civilizations. Some estimates suggest that 90% of the indigenous population in the Western Hemisphere was killed off.
The diseases helped a Spanish force, led by HYPERLINK “https://www.livescience.com/39238-hernan-cortes-conqueror-of-the-aztecs.html” Hernán HYPERLINK “https://www.livescience.com/39238-hernan-cortes-conqueror-of-the-aztecs.html” Cortés, to conquer the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán in 1519. Another Spanish force led by Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas in 1532. The Spanish took over the territories of both empires. In both cases, the Aztec and Incan armies had been ravaged by disease and could not withstand the Spanish forces.
When people from Britain, France, Portugal, and the Netherlands began exploring, conquering, and settling the Western Hemisphere, they were helped because the disease had vastly reduced the size of any indigenous groups that opposed them.
The Black Death’s last major outbreak in Great Britain caused a mass exodus from London led by King Charles II. The plague started in April 1665 and spread rapidly through the hot summer. Fleas from plague-infected rodents were one of the main causes of transmission.
By the time the plague ended, about 100,000 people, including 15% of the population of London, had died. However, this was not the end of that city’s suffering. On Sept. 2, 1666, the Great Fire of London started, lasting four days and burning many of the city.
References
- Sheldon Watts, Epidemics and History Disease, Power and Imperialism.
- Kyle Harper, Plagues Upon the Earth, Disease and the course of Human History.