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What is the plague?
The Black Death is one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. In 1346, the disease, caused by the Yersinia Pestis bacteria and transmitted by fleas from the black rat, appeared in the area between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea and in the Crimea. Ships bring the plague bacteria to the Mediterranean, from where it spreads rapidly throughout Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Between 1347 and 1353, the disease killed an estimated 75 to 200 million people. It was the beginning of an epidemic that would last for 500 years, until the beginning of the 19th century.