The Wave of Plague: Iterations of Plague Transmission
While the bubonic plague arrived in Europe via Messina, Sicily, through the Black Sea (Kaffa), the initial outbreaks among regions throughout Europe vary significantly in the historical record. I will attempt to dispel misinformation and pinpoint the exact origin of these initial outbreaks in each of the major European nations, respectively. Although Central Asia and China were technically infected years before the proliferation in Messina, the initial outbreak in these Chinese regions didn’t immediately devastate the entirety of Europe in its spread. It would take years before the bubonic plague outbreak, and rapid transmission would explode via the Silk Road, Black Sea, and in Messina. While the impact was shocking to China, the spread was still considered fairly mild compared to the outbreak in Messina, which would decimate Europe in 1347.
Key Regional Transmission Paths (14th Century):
Central Asia/China (1340): The alleged origin point, which began with fleas on rodents along the Silk Road.
Crimea/Black Sea (1347): Mongol seamen reportedly disposed of infected corpses in the trading port of Kaffa, transmitting the plague to Genoese merchants.
Sicily and Italy (1347): Genoese ships from Kaffa arrived in Messina, Sicily, carrying the infected crews and rats, “the death fleet," initiating the European pandemic.
France and Spain (1348): Spread from Italian ports via trade routes, which would significantly impact Marseilles.
England (1348): Arrived from ships that docked in Dorset and would spread to London by 1349.
Germany and Austria: (1349) spread inland from French and Italian trading and shipping hubs.
Scandinavia (1350): Spread via maritime trade networks
Later pandemics and transmission: Second and third pandemics
The first plague: a medieval pandemic that began with the Plague of Justinian in 541 and continued until 750. (Egypt and China, in their origin, and also spread via trade ships.)
Second plague: The bubonic plague
Third plague (19th/20th century): spread from Yunnan, China, to Hong Kong (1894), then to India (1896), Africa, and the Americas (1900s) via steamship.
*United States (1900s): The third plague was introduced to port cities like San Francisco by rat-infested ships, which would later spread to local rodent populations.