IntroductionDuring the Middle Ages in Europe, the demand for exotic products from the East was always growing. Traders and merchants used trade routes to and from the Far East to bring back perfumes, rice, cotton, wine, salt, fish, lemons, and mirrors (Travel and Trade). Unfortunately, in addition to the goods, the traders also carried a deadly plague that would soon spread throughout Europe. The little rat flea (Kugler, 2009) was the cause of one of the greatest pandemics in history. Jumping from host to host and rodent to rodent, the disease engulfed Europe in less than fifteen years and killed an estimated 25 million people during this relatively short period (The Black Death, 1348). It moved quickly, carried by rodents and was easily transmitted to humans due to the living conditions of the time. The effects of the bubonic plague pandemic, also called the Black Death or Black Death, which spread across Europe in the mid-14th century, were profound. No massive pandemic, before or since, has caused so many deaths in such a short time. This was due to the living conditions of the time and the virulent nature of the causative organism Yersinia pestis (Kugler, 2009. While until this time the wealthy and elite classes of the population had largely been able to escape premature death, disease and famine which disproportionately hit the poor, the plague knew no borders and killed indiscriminately The killer arrives in Europe Although it was not the first. time that European citizens faced an outbreak of plague, this time was undoubtedly the most devastating In the years leading up to this pandemic, many factors in European countries contributed to modern civilization in Boise. Retrieved June 23, 2010 from: http://www.boisestate.edu/courses/westciv/plague/Kugler, M. (2009). How does bubonic plague spread? http://rarediseases.about.com/od/bubonicplagueandpictures/f/bubonicspread. htm “The Black Death, 1348”, Eye Witness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2001) Accessed June 23, 2010 at: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/plague.htmSnell, M. (2009). The spread of the Black Death across Europe: a series of maps. Accessed July 10, 2010 at: http://historymedren.about.com/od/theblack death/a/black_death_maps.htmTED. Case studies: The role of trade in the transmission of the Black Death. Retrieved July 15, 2010 from: http://www1.american.edu/TED/bubonic.htmTravel and Trade. Accessed July 15, 2010 at: http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/middleages/trade.html