October 1347.

Twelve ships dock in Sicily. Most of the sailors are already dead.

Within three years, half of Europe would be gone. But from that catastrophe came everything: capitalism, individual rights, the printing press, the age of exploration, the scientific revolution, the enlightenment—the very idea that tomorrow can be better than yesterday.

You and I are living in a world the plague created. We just don't know it.

This is Episode 1 of "How Plagues Transform Humanity"—a new series exploring how pandemics shaped the modern world.

TIMESTAMPS:0:00 - The Ships Arrive2:15 - The World That Was Stuck5:30 - Death Arrives9:45 - Feudalism Collapses12:30 - The Church Cracks14:20 - Innovation at Gunpoint18:00 - Why Europe and Not China?21:30 - The World It Made

COMING NEXT:

• Episode 2: The Antonine Plague - How Disease Broke Rome
• Episode 3: The Spanish Flu - 50 Million Dead and the Roaring Twenties
• Episode 4: COVID and the Brave New World

CONNECT:

📩 Newsletter: https://thetimelessinvestor.substack.com💼 LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/arievangemeren

SOURCES:

Paul Schmelzing, "Eight Centuries of Global Real Rates" (Bank of England, 2020)

Robert Allen, "The Great Divergence" David Herlihy, "The Black Death and the Transformation of the West"

#BlackDeath #History #Economics #Capitalism #MedievalHistory