The Spread of the

Black Death
Origins of the Black Death

• The plague broke out in China in the early 1330's after a famine.
• In 1346 the plague reached Kaffa, a trading city in the Black Sea
controlled by Genoan (Italian Merchants).
• At the same time, Muslim Turks (Tartars) were attacking Kaffa.
• During the Siege of Caffa the Tartars ordered their dead (infected with the
plague) to be catapulted towards the enemy.
• The Genoan merchants, now carrying the disease, took it back home to
Italy where crowds flocked to greet them.
The spread across Europe
1347
By 1347 most European islands and
seaports were infected.
1348 1352
In 1348 it reached England by sea the plague was widespread across
trade and in 1349 spread across the Europe.
British isles and into Norway.

In 1348 the Black Death reached

Mariselles (France) and moved to By 1350 the plague spread
Spain and Italy. into Eastern Europe.

1348 1350
The spread into Egypt and North Africa

In 1347 the plague reached Alexandria by It reached Tunis in April 1348 through trade
infected travellers on ships. with Sicily.

1348 Feb. 1349

1347 Apr. 1348

By 1348 up to 1000 people were dying a In February 1349, the Black Death reached
day in Alexandria. Aswan – 1000 kilometres south of Cairo.
The spread into the Middle East

The Black Death spread to Yemen in 1351 – brought by

In 1348 the plague reached Gaza. the King and is court after being imprisoned in Cairo.

1349

1348 1351

By 1349 it had killed 50,000 people in Damascus, Syria.