where did the black death begin in europe
Black Death The Black Death is thought to have originated in the dry plains of Central Asia, where it then travelled along the Silk Road, reaching Crimea by 1343.[5] From there, it was most likely carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were regular passengers on merchant ships, spreading throughout the Mediterranean and Europe.
Black Death in England During the first half of 1349 the Black Death spread northwards. A second front opened up when the plague arrived by ship at the Humber, wherefrom it spread both south and north.[35] In May it reached York, and during the summer months of June, July and August, it ravaged the north.[36] Certain northern counties, like Durham and Cumberland, had been the victim of violent incursions from the Scots, and were therefore left particularly vulnerable to the devastations of the plague.[37] Pestilence is less virulent during the winter months, and spreads less rapidly.[38] The Black Death in England had survived the winter of 1348â€“49, but during the following winter it gave in, and by December 1349 conditions were returning to relative normalcy.[39] It had taken the disease approximately 500 days to traverse the entire country.[40]
Plague of Athens Historians have long tried to identify the disease behind the Plague of Athens. The disease has traditionally been considered an outbreak of the bubonic plague in its many forms, but reconsiderations of the reported symptoms and epidemiology have led scholars to advance alternative explanations. These include typhus, smallpox, measles, and toxic shock syndrome.[10] Based upon striking descriptive similarities with recent outbreaks in Africa, as well as the fact that the Athenian plague itself apparently came from Africa (as Thucydides recorded), Ebola or a related viral hemorrhagic fever has been considered.[11]
Black Death migration Nevertheless, from Central Asia it was carried east and west along the Silk Road, by Mongol armies and traders making use of the opportunities of free passage within the Mongol Empire offered by the Pax Mongolica. It was reportedly first introduced to Europe at the trading city of Caffa in the Crimea in 1347. After a protracted siege, during which the Mongol army under Jani Beg was suffering the disease, they catapulted the infected corpses over the city walls to infect the inhabitants.[citation needed] The Genoese traders fled, bringing the plague by ship into Sicily and the south of Europe, whence it spread.[3]