THE BLACK DEATH
History’s Most Fatal Pandemic
The Black Death was a devastating global pandemic resulting in the deaths of an estimated 200 million people in Eurasia and North Africa between 1347-1351. The Black Death was the second of three global plague pandemics.
The Plague, the disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, is believed to have been the cause of the Black Death.
Symptoms of the plague include fever, weakness, and headaches and can take one of three forms. In the most common bubonic plague, there is also swelling of the lymph nodes. In the septicemic plague, tissues often turn black and die. In the pneumonic plague, shortness of breath, cough and chest pain may occur. The spread of the pneumonic plague is generally airborne through infectious droplets. The bubonic and septicemic plagues are usually spread by flea bites or infected animals.
Prior to its reemergence in the 1300’s, a first plague pandemic (The Plague of Justinian) had already spread across the Byzantine Empire in 541 CE, claiming the lives of 30-50 million people. In this instance, it is believed that the plague was carried over the Mediterrian Sea, from Egypt, on ships carrying grain, infected rats, and plague-ridden fleas.
By the 1300’s, growing stability in Europe made possible extensive trade between the East and West and within Europe itself. Venice and Genoa had trading ports in the eastern Mediterranean and along the Black Sea. Historians believe that the plague likely spread through Eurasia via these extensive networks of trade routes.
The Genoese had a successful colony in the city of Kaffa, Crimea which they kept with the permission of the region’s Mongol rulers. In 1344, tensions began to rise and disagreement soon led to conflict and the colony was taken under siege by the Mongol army. In 1346, the plague reached the Mongol Empire, carried by soldiers and traders travelling the Silk Road. Narratives from the time period dictate that the plague devastated the Mongol army, causing it to give up its siege of the Genoese colony. Some tales include a more morbid detail.