The Black Death restored Europe’s degraded ecosystems as population collapsed
Evidence
A general population decline was accelerated by the advent of the bubonic plague, to which a generally malnourished and weakened population had become especially susceptible. Outbreaks of the plague began in 1348, reappearing again in the years 1360–1361, 1369, and 1374. Populations all over Europe were drastically reduced, some by as much as 60 percent, the low points being reached between 1400 and 1450. But during the hundred years between 1350 and 1450, while the European population was at these new lows, the environment recovered. Ecosystem balances altered by preplague population pressures had been generally restored to their medieval state by 1500. Forests had grown back, renewing timber supplies, soils had recovered their fertility, and the cultivation of marginal lands had been abandoned. — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 269
Categorization
- XREF: A stark instance of demographic collapse restoring ecological balance — pairs with Malthusian and ‘collapse as regeneration’ themes across the environmental humanities. — connects to: The Black Death followed Mongol trade routes and killed tens of millions; The Black Death killed over 20 million Europeans and 60 million Chinese. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 472; African gold traveling Mongol routes carried the Black Death to Europe — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 470
Broader Connections
- The Black Death followed Mongol trade routes and killed tens of millions
#corroborates(0.75) - African gold traveling Mongol routes carried the Black Death to Europe
#expands(0.75) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 470 - The Black Death killed over 20 million Europeans and 60 million Chinese.
#corroborates(0.70) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 472