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=How did one ship alter Western history? Could it happen again?= //In 1347 a Genoese ship from Caffa, on the Black Sea, came ashore at Messina, Sicily. The crew of the ship, what few were left alive, carried with them a deadly cargo, a disease so virulent that it could kill in a matter of hours. It is thought that the disease originated in the Far East, and was spread along major trade routes to Caffa, where Genoa had an established trading post. When it became clear that ships from the East carried the plague, Messina closed its port. The ships were forced to seek safe harbour elsewhere around the Mediterranean, and the disease was able to spread quickly//. ([|citation] )

Plagues have devastated populations for 1000s of years. Today, we have seen diseases like AIDS, SARS, Cholera, the Ebola Virus, and tuberculosis spread quickly and kill 1000s. SARS for example, [|killed just over 8,000] people in 2003 before being stopped. Will we be so lucky next time? What would happen to society if 8,000 became 8 million, or more?

The Black Death of the mid 1350s spread through Asia and Europe killing up to 1/3rd of the European population, which may have been [|25 million people] in Europe alone. What happened to them could be a clue to what would happen in 2009.

Use the links on the left side to study the clues and evidence of the The Black Death/Plague of the 1350s and the create a presentation that explains what could happen in 2009 by examining:
 * 1) How the population of Medieval Europe changed and how it could change today?
 * 2) What would happen the serfs of Medieval Europe and what could happen to our labor force today?
 * 3) How did Medieval Europe politics change and could that change today?
 * 4) How was the Medieval Church affected and would a similar thing happen today?
 * 5) What happened to trade in Medieval Europe and would trade or travel change today?

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