15th Century disasters?????!!!!!????

Question

Where their any disasters during the 15th century? If so wut were they in terms of: political, economic, and reliigious. Also does any one know what their impact was on European society?

Answer 1

I would look into the Black Death.  This affected Europe big time.  It wiped out 33% of Europe's population and although one-third may not seem like much, there wasn't as many people in Europe back then (compared to modern times).

It screwed up the economy and the livelihood of so many people.  Some people felt God was punishing them for something they may have done.  Others probably lost their faith in God completely.  

Answer 2

The other answers are correct. I applaud Billy K's response about the volcano in the Pacific. The effect such things have had on global climate can be immense, witness the effect of a volcanic eruption on the year 1816, aka "Eighteen Hundred and Froze to death".

The fall of Constantinople is significant, economically as well, since the demand for east Asian trade goods increased as the Turks solidified their control of the caravan routes through western Asia. Europeans began searching for other routes, by sea mainly, which lead to what I would call the biggest disaster to befall the Americas in the last millenium. The arrival of European explorers to a people who had developed no natural immunity to diseases familiar to Europeans, devastated the indigenous population. Columbus first encountered the Taino people, who were almost wiped out,mostly by disease, and others by Spanish weapons.  

Answer 3

That sounds like it would make a nice start to a research paper.

Answer 4

The Black Plague was a major disaster of sorts.  It killed a whole lot of people.

Answer 5

At least one huge one!   The  Kuwae eruption of 1453 must have sent about 40 cubic kilometers of magma into the atmosphere.  It left a crater in the South Pacific 7 miles long and probably changed the global climate for years.   Ice-core samples and tree ring records everywhere in the world show the signs of the damage, and it was one of the biggest eruptions in 10,000 years.

A political disaster was the final fall of the Eastern Roman empire, with the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453.

The Great Plague was a 14th century disaster, rather than a 15th century one.