Black Death in Asia The Origins of the Bubonic Plague

The Black Death, a medieval pandemic that was likely the bubonic plague, is generally associated with Europe. This is not surprising since it killed an estimated one-third of the European population in the 14th century. However, the Bubonic Plague actually started in Asia and devastated many areas of that continent as well. Unfortunately, the course of the pandemic in Asia is not as thoroughly documented as it is for Europe—however, the Black Death does appear in records from across Asia in the 1330s and 1340s noting that the disease spread terror and destruction wherever it arose. Origins of the Black Death Many scholars believe that the bubonic plague began in northwestern China, while others cite southwestern China or the steppes of Central Asia. We do know that in 1331 an outbreak erupted in the Yuan Empire  and may have hastened the end of Mongol rule over China. Three years later, the disease killed over 90 percent of the Hebei Provinces population with deaths totaling over 5 million people. As of 1200, China had a total population of more than 120 million, but a 1393 census found only 65 million Chinese surviving. Some of that missing population was killed by famine and upheaval in the transition from Yuan to Ming rule, but many millions died of bubonic plague. From its origin at the eastern end of the Silk Road, the Black Death rode trade routes west stopping at Central Asian caravansaries and Middle Eastern trade centers and subsequently infected people all across Asia. The Egyptian scholar Al-Mazriqi  noted that more than three hundred tribes all perished without apparent reason in their summer and winter encampments, in the course of pasturing their flocks and during their seasonal migration. He claimed that all of Asia was depopulated, as far as the  Korean Peninsula. Ibn al-Wardi, a Syrian writer who would later die of the plague himself in 1348, recorded that the Black Death came out of The Land of Darkness, or  Central Asia. From there, it spread to China, India, the Caspian Sea and land of the Uzbeks, and thence to Persia and the Mediterranean. The Black Death Strikes Persia and Issyk Kul The Central Asian scourge struck Persia just a few years after it appeared in China—proof  if any is needed that the Silk Road was a convenient route of transmission for the deadly bacterium. In 1335, the Il-Khan (Mongol) ruler of Persia and the Middle East, Abu Said, died of bubonic plague during a war with his northern cousins, the Golden Horde. This signaled the beginning of the end for Mongol rule in the region. An estimated 30% of Persias people died of the plague in the mid-14th century. The regions population was slow to recover, in part due to the political disruptions caused by the fall of Mongol rule and the later invasions of Timur (Tamerlane). Archaeological excavations on the shores of Issyk Kul, a lake in what is now Kyrgyzstan, reveal that the Nestorian Christian trading community there was ravaged by bubonic plague in 1338 and 1339. Issyk Kul was a major Silk Road depot and has sometimes been cited as the origin point for the Black Death. It certainly is prime habitat for marmots, which are known to carry a virulent form of the plague. It seems more likely, however, that traders from further east brought diseased fleas with them to the shores of Issyk Kul. Whatever the case, this tiny settlements death rate shot up from a 150-year average of about 4 people per year, to more than 100 dead in two years alone. Although specific numbers and anecdotes are hard to come by, different chronicles note that Central Asian cities like Talas, in modern-day Kyrgyzstan; Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde in Russia; and Samarkand, now in Uzbekistan, all suffered outbreaks of the Black Death. It is likely that each population center would have lost at least 40 percent of its citizens, with some areas reaching death tolls as high as 70 percent. The Mongols Spread Plague at Kaffa In 1344, the Golden Horde decided to recapture the Crimean port city of Kaffa from the Genoese—Italian traders who had taken the town in the late 1200s. The Mongols under Jani Beg instituted a siege, which lasted until 1347  when reinforcements from further east brought the plague to the Mongol lines. An Italian lawyer, Gabriele de Mussis, recorded what happened next: The whole army was affected by a disease which overran the Tartars (Mongols) and killed thousands upon thousands every day. He goes on to charge that the Mongol leader ordered corpses to be placed in catapults and lobbed into the city in hopes that the intolerable stench would kill everyone inside. This incident is often cited as the first instance of biological warfare in history. However, other contemporary chroniclers make no mention of the putative Black Death catapults. A French churchman, Gilles li Muisis, notes that a calamitous disease befell the Tartar army, and the mortality was so great and widespread that scarcely one in twenty of them remained alive. However, he depicts the Mongol survivors as surprised when the Christians in Kaffa also came down with the disease. Regardless of how it played out, the Golden Hordes siege of Kaffa certainly did drive refugees to flee on ships bound for Genoa. These refugees likely were a primary source of the Black Death that went on to decimate Europe. The Plague Reaches the Middle East European observers were fascinated but not too worried when the Black Death struck the western rim of Central Asia and the Middle East. One recorded that India was depopulated; Tartary, Mesopotamia, Syria, Armenia were covered with dead bodies; the Kurds fled in vain to the mountains. However, they would soon become participants rather than observers in the worlds worst pandemic. In The Travels of Ibn Battuta, the great traveler noted that as of 1345, the number that died daily in Damascus (Syria) had been two thousand, but the people were able to defeat the plague through prayer. In 1349, the holy city of Mecca was hit by the plague, likely brought in by infected pilgrims on the hajj. The Moroccan historian Ibn Khaldun, whose parents died of the plague, wrote about the outbreak this way: Civilization both in the East and the West was visited by a destructive plague which devastated nations and caused populations to vanish. It swallowed up many of the good things of civilization and wiped them out... Civilization decreased with the decrease of mankind. Cities and buildings were laid waste, roads and way signs were obliterated, settlements and mansions became empty, dynasties and tribes grew weak. The entire inhabited world changed. More Recent Asian Plague Outbreaks In 1855, the so-called Third Pandemic of bubonic plague broke out in Yunnan Province, China. Another outbreak  or a continuation of the Third Pandemic—depending upon which source you believe—sprang up in China in 1910. It went on to kill more than 10 million, many of them in Manchuria. A similar outbreak in British India left about 300,000 dead from 1896 through 1898. This outbreak began in Bombay (Mumbai) and Pune, on the countrys west coast. By 1921, it would claim some 15 million lives. With dense human populations and natural plague reservoirs (rats and marmots), Asia is always at risk of another round of bubonic plague. Fortunately, the timely use of antibiotics can cure the disease today. Legacy of the Plague in Asia Perhaps the most significant impact that the Black Death had on Asia was that it contributed to the fall of the mighty Mongol Empire. After all, the pandemic started within the Mongol Empire and devastated peoples from all four of the khanates. The massive population loss and terror caused by the plague destabilized Mongolian governments from the Golden Horde in Russia to the Yuan Dynasty in China. The Mongol ruler of the Ilkhanate Empire in the Middle East died of the disease along with six of his sons. Although the Pax Mongolica had allowed increased wealth and cultural exchange, through a reopening of the Silk Road, it also allowed this deadly contagion to spread rapidly westward from its origin in western China or eastern Central Asia. As a result, the worlds second-largest empire ever crumbled and fell.

Shakespeares Hamlet The Tragedy of Revenge - 1165 Words

Shakespeares Hamlet: The tragedy of revenge The time is out of joint: O cursed spite, / That ever I was born to set it right! (I.5). Shakespeares Hamlet is an unwilling avenger. Despite his hatred of his uncle Claudius and his sense of the injustice perpetuated upon his fathers memory, Hamlet seems unable to obey the will of his fathers ghost. Ultimately, this is not shown to be a sign of weakness or cowardice upon Hamlets part. Rather, the intellectual protagonist understands all too well the futility of attempting to use violence to enact justice. By attempting to become an avenger, Hamlet simply begets more violence. But I am very sorry, good Horatio, /That to Laertes I forgot myself; /For, by the image of my cause, I see/The portraiture of his (V.2). In seeking to revenge, Hamlet accidentally stabs Polonius, the kings advisor, thus killing the father of Laertes. Hamlet acknowledges, with his sense of higher justice and objectivity, that Laertes has a reason for hating him, given that he is also a parricide. There is a shar p, circular irony to this cycle of revenge. Similarly, Ophelia is driven mad by the death of her father and kills herself. Hamlet, while much of his madness is assumed, is also driven to a state of emotional distress. Laertes, Hamlet, and Ophelia all act irrationally in ways that bring about their death because of the extremity of their grief. Of course, it could be argued that the larger irony is that Hamlet could have avoided killingShow MoreRelated Revenge and Vengeance in Shakespeares Hamlet - Pure Revenge Tragedy?1932 Words   |  8 PagesHamlet – the Revenge Tragedy?  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   A baffling array of considerations relevant to the revenge aspect of Shakespeare’s tragic drama Hamlet make an essay on this topic an interesting experience.    Ruth Nevo in â€Å"Acts III and IV: Problems of Text and Staging† explains the uncertain place which revenge occupies within the hero’s most famous soliloquy:    And conversely, because self-slaughter is the ostensible subject of the whole disquisition, we cannot read the speech simplyRead MoreProblems in the Revenge Tragedy: William Shakespeares Hamlet2646 Words   |  11 Pages Shakespeares Hamlet presents the generic elements found in Renaissance revenge tragedies (Revenge Tragedy). 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Present Case Is Offer A Legal Advice Frank â€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Present Case Is Offer A Legal Advice Frank? Answer: Introducation Agency is a special type of financialagreement between the two parties where one party called as principal has extended some legal authority to other party called agent to create legal contract with the third party on behalf of the principal. Hence, it can be said in agency law mainly three parties are involved i.e. Principal, agent, third party (Pont, 2008). When agent with sufficient authority has enacted a contract with the third party, then in such cases the contractual obligation becomes binding on the principal. The principal is liable to fulfill the contractual duties for the third party only when the agent who has enacted the contract with the third party has the requisite authority (Cassidy, 2013). If any of the below highlighted authority exists with the agent, then the contractual liability is valid on principal. Customary / Actual authority (Express Implied authority) Authority of necessity Ostensible/apparent authority Actual authority When the principal has extended the authority to agent in written form or in oral form, then it would be termed as express authority. Further, when the principal does not actually express the authority but has extended the position/designation/ title to perform some work, then in such cases it has been assumed that agent has the authorization to perform the work on behalf of the principal (Edlin, 2007). The leading case in this regards is Watteau v Fenwick[1893] 1 QB 346 case. In such cases, it is essential that the respective principal has informed the third parties regarding the level of authorization of the agent (Harris, 2014). Ostensible/apparent authority In such authority, the principal does not aim to give authority to agent but due to his action the third party assumes that the agent has authorization. The conduct represents that the agent has legal authority to enact the contract with third party and hence in such cases, the contractual obligation is applicable on principal. Freeman Lockyer v Buckhurst Park Properties[1964] 1 All ER 630 case is the testimony of this aspect (Pathinayake, 2014). Authority of necessity The agent has performed some acts with the third party in order to protect the interest of the principal. The judgment given in Great Northern Railway Co. vSwaffield(1874)LR 9 Ex 132 case is the example of agency of necessity. When any of the above authority is not extended by the principal to the agent, then in such cases, Management is not liable to complete the contractual obligation with the third party. The Yonge v Toynbee[1910] 1 KB 215 case is the testimony of this. There are some duties of the fiduciary parties of the agency relationship which are furnished below (Pont, 2008): Duty of agent towards the principal Follows the instruction of principal If not then the principal has legal rights to recover the damages from agent or sue agent) Fiduciary duty It is pivotal that agents conduct must indicate good faith of the principal. The main factors are shown below (Harvey, 2009): If it has been found that agent has made contract for his own interest, then principal can sue agent and claim for damages as given in Christie v Harcourt[1973] 2 NZLR 139 case. Agent is not supposed to make secret profit on behalf of principal as highlighted in Bentley v Craven(1853) 52 ER 29 case. Misuse of confidential information by the agent as per Robb v Green[1895] 2 QB 315 case. If the agent has breached the fiduciary duties, then principal has the rights to sue the agent and recover the losses. It is noteworthy that when the principal has not informed the third party regarding the withdrawal of any authority from the agent and the agent has enacted the contract with the third party, then in such cases the interest of the third party would be protected under common law. Also, the principal is liable to satisfy the contractual obligations directed towards the third party. If principal denies doing so, then the third party can sue the principal or claim for the damages (Edlin, 2007). Application It is apparent from the case facts that Frank (the principal) has appointed Gemma as a salesperson for his shop. Gemma is working as a sales agent for Frank which means she has the authority to sell the appliances to customers on behalf of Frank. Also, Tom is the customer who is ready to buy a dishwasher for $350 has informed Gemma about the same. However, Gemma has called her niece and has sold her dishwasher for $300. She does not inform Frank about this case and later on Tom has informed about the same to Frank. It can be seen that Gemmas has conducted the work for personal interest and has breached the fiduciary duty. Therefore, Frank can recover the damage of $50 from her. It is apparent that Frank has authorized Bob to sell washing machines and to enact contract with laundries. However, due to Bobs late coming and drinking habit, Frank has fired Bob from job. Further, Frank has forgotten to inform the third party Angela regarding the withdrawal of duties from Bob. Hence, Angela was not aware that Bob does not have the requisite authorization and hence, she enacted the contract under good faith thereby transferring $10,000. Also, it is noticeable that Bob has the express authority to act accounting to Angela. Therefore, Frank has to complete the contractual responsibility or else Angela can sue him for breaching the contract. Conclusion It can be concluded from the above that Frank can sue Gemma for breaching the fiduciary duties and working for furthering her own interest. Hence, Frank can recover the damage of $50 from Gemma. In second case, Frank does not inform Angela regarding the withdrawal of authorization from Bob. Therefore, Frank is bounded with the contractual obligations with Angela which was entered by her in good faith. Reference Cassidy, J. (2013). Corporations Law Text and Essential Cases (4th ed.). Sydney: Federation Press. Edlin, D. (2007). Common law theory (4th ed.). Cambridge: University Press Cambridge. Harris, J. (2014). Corporations Law (2nd ed.). Sydney: LexisNexis Study Guide. Harvey, C. (2009). Foundations of Australian law (2nd ed.). Prahran, Vic.: Tilde University Press. Pathinayake, A. (2014). Commercial and business law (2nd ed.). Sydney :Thomson-Reuters. Pont D.E.G. (2008) Law of Agency (2nd ed.). Sydney: Lexis Nexis Butterworths. Answer: Duty of agent towards the principal Reference