Yersinia Pestis

(Great Bubonic
1331-1770
Plague)

by Andrea Zarza Rosales

Timeline Black Plague DENMAR

1331-34: Plague outbreak in Southwestern China spreads through Asia to the

Mediterranean. UNITED STATES

1347-1350: Black Plague reaches Italy, Marseille,

CANADA
France; London, Scotland, Wales,
Ireland, Scandinavia.

1466: Plague Of Paris. 1467: Plague Of Seville 1559: Amsterdam Plague. 1647: Great
plague of Seville. 1665: Great plague of London

1666: The Plague in England up until the Great Fire of London that kills the rats carrying
UNITED STATES

the disease
NORTH ATLANTIC
1722: Daniel Defoe publishes A journal of the Plague Year, a fictional account of the
London 1665 outbreak. OCEAN
1770: Plague in the Balkans; lasts about 2 years
MEXICO
K

NORWAY
SWEDEN
FINLAND
RUSSIA
IRELAND
UNITED
BELARUS
KINGDOM
POLAND

GERMANY
UKRAINE

KAZAKHSTAN
FRANCE
HUNGARY

ROMANIA
MONGOLIA
ITALY

TURKMENISTAN
SPAIN TURKEY

C AFGANISTAN
CHINA
IRAQ
IRAN
PAKISTAN
ALGERIA LIBYA Spread of the Plague (11330-1775)
EGYPT INDIA
SAUDI ARABIA
Origin of the Black Plague
In 1332, the Mongol Great Khan Russian archaeologist, found
Jijaghatu Toq-Temur and his several headstones there
sons died suddenly of a from 1338-1339 with
mysterious illness. references to the plague.

Great Khan Jijaghatu D. A. Chwolson

In the year . . . of the hare [1339]

This is the grave of Kutluk.

He died of the plague with his wife Magnu-Kelka.*

The Black Plague facts COLOMBIA
VENEZUELA

Plague ECUADOR
Bubonic plague
N Types
60% mortallity
PERU Septicemic plague
BRAZIL
100% mortallity
Symptoms Pneumonic plague
95% mortallity
NW
Fever and chills NE BOLIVIA

Weakness, muscle pain

Worldwide
Headache, bleeding
PARAGUAY

W E SOUT
Estimated 200 million deaths
ARGENTINA
CHILE

O
URUGUAY

SW SE
 SUDAN
NIGER

Spreading NIGERIA
ETHIOPIA

People usuallyCONGO get plague through the bite of fleas that have
KENYA
GABON

previously fed on infected animals like mice, rats, rabbits,

TANZANIA

squirrels, chipmunks, and prairie dogs. It can also be spread

through direct contact with an infected person or animal or by
ANGOLA
ZAMBIA

INDIAN
eating an NAMIBIA
infected animal. Scratches or bites of infected
MADAGASCAR

domestic cats.
OCEAN
SOUTH
H ATLANTIC AFRICA

OCEAN
The Oriental rat flea (Xenopsylla Oriental rat flea (Xenopsylla
cheopis) engorged with blood. cheopis) infected with the
Yersinia pestis bacterium
 S
Biological Warfare (1346)
Out of a brawl and a dead muslim in the Tana
street in Caffa (Crimea, now Feodosija, Ukraine),
a mongol Khan apparead outside with a large
Tartar force. The city was besieged after a rude
reply from the Italians. According to some
records, the muslims thought the pestilence from
the diseased bodies of their comrades would kill
the italians inside Caffa. They catapulted the
bodies inside the city and left them to die. Those
Geographical Deaths
Europe Wide 30%
POPULATION
ESTIMATE

Italy, England 40-60%

and rural France
POPULATION
PER COUNTRY

ESTIMATE

Women and children

 Oimmeddam
“Where do you come from?” an Indian asks a tall, black-hatted stranger.

“I come from far way,” the stranger replies, “from . . . across the Eastern Ocean.”

“What do you bring?” the Indian asks.

“I bring death,” the stranger answers. “My breath causes children to wither and die like
young plants in the spring snow. I bring destruction. No matter how beautiful a woman,
once she has looked at me she becomes as ugly as death. And to men, I bring not death
alone, but the destruction of their children and the blighting of their wives. . . . No people
who looks upon me is ever the same.”
References
John Martin Rare Book Room ( 2017), Hardin Library for the Health
Sciences, 600 Newton Road, Iowa City, IA 52242-1098

Brown, SD; Montie, TC (1977). "Beta-adrenergic blocking activity of

Yersinia pestis murine toxin". Infection and Immunity.

Kelly, John. (2012) The great mortality : an intimate history of the Black
Death, the most devastating plague of all time” New York. Harper
Perennial—1st ed. ISBN 0-06-000692-7