7 Widely Believed Historical Facts That Are Not True

2. Rats didn’t actually spread the Black Death

Have you ever thought that maybe we shouldn’t blame rats for the plague that killed 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia through 14th to 19th century?

Although it’s a widely accepted theory, recent studies have revealed something new! Rats were not the only factor in spreading the Black Death. At the University of Oslo, scientists in 2014 conducted research that assessed the potential transmission sources for the pandemic.

They concluded the parasites that spread the disease were more likely to have come from humans than rats and were spread from human to human. Their research indicated that the disease spread by human fleas and lice matched the death rates for the Black Death more so than their model regarding parasite-carrying rats.

So maybe it’s time to apologize for all the blame on rats for all these years!