World History › Section N · Crisis and new empires, 1300-1500 › Topic N.3
The Black Death from east to west
Between 1346 and 1353 a plague spread from the steppe to the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Europe, killing perhaps a third or more of the people it reached. Ancient DNA has transformed what we know about where it came from, while written sources show how frightened societies tried to understand it.
In this topic
- The great mortality
- The disease
- How did it travel?
- What ancient DNA revealed
- Worked example: the gravestones of Issyk-Kul
- Along the routes west
- The plague in the Islamic world
- How many died?
- Europe searches for answers
- Worked example: Strasbourg, February 1349
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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