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Black and White of the Coronavirus

In October 1347, as many as 12 merchant ships from Genoa anchored in the port of Messina in Sicily, Italy, after crossing the Black Sea. Many sailors on the ships died, their bodies studded with black bubbles.

By
YUDI LATIF
· 5 minutes read
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KOMPAS/ISMAIL ZAKARIA

Boat passengers disembark onto a beach Gili Trawangan, North Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, in March (18/3/2020). After the suspension of the fast boat service from Bali, tourists can still access the Gilis through Bangsal Harbor.

In October 1347, as many as 12 merchant ships from Genoa anchored in the port of Messina in Sicily, Italy, after crossing the Black Sea. Many sailors on the ships died, their bodies studded with black bubbles. The disease was then called the Black Death. The Sicilian authorities were late in preventing the ships from docking. As a result, over the next five years, the European continent was struck by a pandemic of bubonic plague that wiped out about one-third of its population.

Losing many inhabitants, once-crowded continent became sparsely populated. Villagers were able to control more land. The availability of arable land along with the scarcity of labor turned the people away from the slavery system. To cultivate new land, farmers borrowed land. To cultivate new land, farmers borrowed money. Church authorities began to tolerate loan interest. All that brought prosperity to Europe. Part of their incomes was invested in technological innovations. The era after the Black Death marked the great progress of technological development. Francis Bacon marked this with the presence of gunpowder, a printing press and a compass. These developments paved the way for market expansion, which paved the way for the birth of the nation state and the industrial revolution.

Editor:
naranasrullah
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