The Black Death in the fourteenth century detroyed families and human contacts, customs, and traditions. […] Bit by bit authorities combated the plague by quarantine and other measures.
![The plague came from the unknown, spread everywhere, and vanished, nobody knew why. There was a common fear of this terrifying unknown. JPEG - 633.4 KiB](local/cache-vignettes/L1024xH792/Pest1-c42fa9cb-c33e9-3cded.jpg?1707732550)
The plague came from the unknown, spread everywhere, and vanished, nobody knew why. There was a common fear of this terrifying unknown.
![Local barriers were erected, but they were not very efficient. State and town officials shrank from calling the disease by its name, fearing that commercial interests would suffer. JPEG - 608.9 KiB](local/cache-vignettes/L1024xH796/Pest2-c103935d-3e194-6b94c.jpg?1707732550)
Local barriers were erected, but they were not very efficient. State and town officials shrank from calling the disease by its name, fearing that commercial interests would suffer.
![The growing power of governments made a more efficient organization possible. Extended cordons of police kept the plague outside western and central Europe. JPEG - 525.8 KiB](local/cache-vignettes/L1024xH775/Pest3-70ef5775-d8401-5ab33.jpg?1707732550)
The growing power of governments made a more efficient organization possible. Extended cordons of police kept the plague outside western and central Europe.
![The international health organization of the League of Nations restricts the plague to a relatively small territory in Asia. The protected region is now almost the whole world. JPEG - 259.6 KiB](local/cache-vignettes/L1024xH797/Pest4-438705c1-ad2bb-adb81.jpg?1707732551)
The international health organization of the League of Nations restricts the plague to a relatively small territory in Asia. The protected region is now almost the whole world.
Fighting menaces coming from geographically unknown sources continued for centuries.