Global pandemics have helped shape history and the modern world. Without the diseases that cause pandemics nations and empires would not have been able to expand as far and wide as they did and they would not have grown in complexity and culture. The bubonic plague took the world to the Dark Ages, but also resulted in one of the greatest ages of enlightenment, the Renaissance. Beautiful works of art, literature, and philosophy were born from this. Somewhat sadly not all pandemics have resulted in ages of enlightenment. Often they come fast, kill even faster, and then are gone. One pandemic that still plagues the world today, with no end in sight, is AIDS. An incurable virus that became the center of attention in the 1980's. Bubonic plague and AIDS are very different in nature, but have resulted in many similar political, economic, and cultural impacts within human societies. The differences and similarities of these pandemics can help us understand pandemics better and also can help us to prepare for future pandemics. First we must look at the bubonic plague, how it spread and how it impacted the world socially, economically, and culturally. It was first recorded in Europe by a Sicilian chronicler by the name of Michele da Piazza in October of 1347, who recorded the port of Messina having twelve galleys full of sailors carrying the disease down to the marrow of their bones.1 Black Death began to really take its toll in 1348, spreading through Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, England, Denmark, to the Balkans, Palestine, Syria, and the coast of North Africa by the spring and summer of that year. By 1350 it had reached German and Eastern Europe and finally in 1352 reached Russia. Spreading from port to port, through trade and travel, from what appears to be person to person.2 Unlike the modern day agent of Black Death, that is only spread as fast as infected rats (from fleas) can carry it.3 The impacts of bubonic plague were far reaching and long felt. As the bubonic plague did not just last from 1348 on, but came and went throughout the decades of the Dark Ages. Because of the “great mortality of 1348” people thought it was the end of days, the apocalypse had indeed arrived. The language used to describe what was observed was very biblical end of days.4 The social and cultural ramifications for this can be seen as Europe continued to plunge into the Medieval Dark Ages. A time when religion was highly valued (albeit you had to be part of the “right” religion), social status defined who you could be, and Europe itself became a semi-isolationist nation as a result of the high death rates. The mortality rate of bubonic plague, at first estimated at killing one third of Europe's population, is now estimated to have actually killed an average of fifty percent, half of the entire population.5 This high mortality rate greatly affected economy, causing a shortage of consumers and producers, which in turn caused prices for goods to go down.6 As a result, wage earners were also willing to demand better working conditions, food, and as there was a shortage of labor were often given what they asked for. These changes economically in turn changed the politics of serfdom and feudalism, providing more ways for laborers in feudal land holdings to get out or demand better conditions. Secondly we must look at the AIDS pandemic. AIDS is the disease that results from HIV, and is extremely prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa. It first emerged in humans in the 1980's and now accounts for roughly two million deaths annually in sub-Saharan Africa, resulting in a zero (or negative) population growth rate for some countries.7 It is a new disease, as far as anyone can tell, as it has not been recorded in history. The way it is spread and how it has impacted the world are two very important topics, one being much more straightforward than the other. HIV/AIDS is only contracted and transmitted through contaminated body fluids, such as blood or semen.8 Because the way it is contracted and transmitted is now known, it helps make battling the pandemic a little easier. That being said convincing sub-Saharan people who still hold on very strongly to their traditional beliefs of the science behind the transmission and contractions of AIDS can be difficult. The social, economic, and cultural impacts have varied greatly since its introduction, and are still being interpreted today. AIDS in Africa has become not only a social construct, but a cultural one as well. Due to the risk factors involved with the disease, mainly heterosexual intercourse, the historical influence culturally and socially are prevalent.9 Because many sub-Saharan Africans still practice polygamy (like most of the continent), widow inheritance, female circumcision, and invasive sexual practices the disease has been able to spread with no end in sight.10 The economy of sub-Saharan Africa has also impacted how the disease has been able to spread. With an economy that has a strong commercial category of sex workers, mainly female sex workers, who often are in the situation because of a lack of money at home. The sad story of this is that oftentimes the wife will begin this work to take care of an infected and sick husband.11 The combination of the sub-Saharan historical origins, virulence, high risk factors, lack of sexual education, and lack of medical technology specifically have led to the disease being so rampant in this one part of the world. Like the bubonic plague, early on the language used surrounding AIDS was very apocalyptic. Some people again thought it was the end of days and that judgment would soon be upon us. They both have high mortality rates and are very virulent, killing massive amounts of their respective populations, causing social and economic disturbances. The similarities between the two pandemics are probably due to the biology of the diseases themselves. The fact that they both found populations where they could thrive also helped. The differences between AIDS and the bubonic plague are in their transmission, the fact that bubonic plague has been exterminated (for the most part) and AIDS has no end in sight, and the understanding of them today. AIDS is very well understood because of the medical technology available today, whereas bubonic plague has only been identified as the strain that is still alive today. There have been steps made to hinder AIDS, they can keep those infected with HIV from moving to AIDS stages with the advent of chemotherapy. The bubonic plague, even though terrible, produced the Renaissance and gave the world a different way to view the world. AIDS has yet to “enlighten” the world in that regard, because we are still in a world where this pandemic exists it is hard to fully grasp the social, cultural, and economic impacts. The past experience of pandemics can prepare us for future pandemics because societies have learned to detect the signs, how to battle against them, and what steps to take (even though they vary from country to country). Past pandemics have taught us how diseases are spread and have showed us how quickly they can spread. Even though the H1N1 flu was not as dangerous as first thought, it was a good “practice” run for lack of a better word. This mild epidemic did show where countries were lacking, mainly with slow vaccine technology, too much reliance on foreign factories (especially for the United States), and how easily some hospitals and clinics were pushed over their thresholds.12 This has showed us where we need to improve and what steps public health institutions need to take to be ready. It has been paramount to understand the nature of past diseases because they unlock the mysteries of pandemics today. They not only answer questions about diseases, but help us better understand history itself. For as long as people have been living together diseases have been a part of that. As we have learned, globalization has been taking place for a very long time, and continues to influence and impact the world we live in.13 Because the world itself, including the people, culture, economy, and social structures, are more accessible, diseases are far more dangerous today than in the past. Which makes understanding them, how they're spread, what they are, and possible impacts so imperative.