Cascades
How one event triggers another across decades
Central Asian Rats to the Renaissance
How a plague created the modern world
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A Plague Emerges in Central Asia
A strain of plague began in the steppes of Central Asia. At the same time, Mongol armies were busy traveling and fighting across the continent.
Mongol armies inadvertently carry the plague along trade routes connecting Central Asia to the world
The Black Death Reaches Europe
Through trade routes, the plague spread from China to India to the Middle East and finally to Europe. It was the greatest disaster the world had ever seen — a quarter of the world population was gone.
The plague arrives via merchant ships and caravan routes, spreading faster than any medieval quarantine can contain
60% of Europe Dies
Europe lost 60% of its people. Some countries lost as many as 90%. Imagine living in a world where 9 out of 10 of your friends die of the same disease. Empires were ruthlessly shaken.
With so few people left, the survivors inherit more land and bargaining power than they ever imagined possible
Surviving Peasants Gain Wealth
Massive depopulation meant surviving peasants had more land to cultivate, resulting in more income. Suddenly there was social mobility. People also started innovating machines to reduce the need for labor.
New wealth and labor shortages force innovation; decimated families rewrite inheritance laws
Inheritance, Women, and Religious Vacuum
Since families were decimated, inheritance laws changed to give daughters rights. Priests died in great numbers caring for the sick, creating a religious vacuum. The old order was crumbling.
A combination of wealth, freedom, innovation, and weakened religious authority creates the conditions for a new age
The Renaissance
Social mobility, new wealth, mechanical innovation, weakened church authority — these factors combined into the Renaissance. New thinking, art, science, and eventually the Age of Exploration and colonialism.
“The worst catastrophe in human history accidentally created the conditions for the greatest flowering of human achievement.”
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