Between the middle and the end of the 14th century, the plague, also called Black Death, killed almost half of Europe’s population. It spread most rapidly in the larger cities where many people lived.

This led to economic depression. Merchants and traders had fewer people to sell their goods to, so they lost a lot of money.



Words

  • economic depression = a time when people do not have jobs and have very little money to spend
  • goods = products
  • merchant = a person who buys and sells things
  • plague = an illness that leads to death and spreads very quickly
  • rapidly = very quickly
  • spread = to move from one place to another
  • trader = same as “merchant”: person who buys and sells things