The Black Death spreads

A guided tour, 1346 CE – 1353 CE, in 5 stops.

How plague crossed Europe and the Middle East in seven years, 1346 to 1353.

The stops

1. From the steppe to the Black Sea (1346 CE)

   Plague came out of Central Asia with the trade of the Golden Horde. In 1346 it struck the Mongol army besieging Caffa, the Genoese port in Crimea.

2. Galleys carry it west (1347 CE)

   Ships from the Black Sea brought it to Constantinople, Alexandria and Messina in 1347, and by the end of the year to Genoa and Marseille.

3. The south and west (1348 CE)

   Through 1348 it moved along the trade routes into Italy, France, Spain and the Middle East, and in summer it landed at Melcombe in England.

4. North and east (1349 CE)

   In 1349 it crossed the Alps and the North Sea, reaching Germany, Norway and Scotland; by 1350 the Baltic ports and Sweden.

5. Into Russia (1351 CE)

   It reached Pskov and Novgorod in 1352 and Moscow in 1353. In seven years perhaps a third to a half of Europe's people had died.