How volcanoes helped spark the Black Death

The devastating impact of the Black Death on medieval Western Europe resulted in the loss of around one-third of the population. While scientists have pinpointed the bacterium responsible for this catastrophic event, the details surrounding its arrival in Europe remain somewhat elusive. A recent study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment suggests that either a significant volcanic eruption or a series of eruptions may have acted as a catalyst, initiating a series of events that led to the spread of the plague to the Mediterranean region during the 1340s. This period marks what is known as the second plague pandemic. The first pandemic, the Justinian Plague, emerged around 541 CE and swept across Asia, North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, although Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I survived the disease. Throughout the following 300 years, there were sporadic outbreaks of the plague, which gradually became less deadly and seemingly disappeared. However, in the Middle Ages, the Black Death emerged with its first recorded outbreak in 1346, particularly affecting the Lower Volga and Black Sea areas. This was just the start of the second pandemic, which saw further outbreaks, including the devastating events of the 1630s that decimated populations in various cities. France experienced a severe outbreak between 1647 and 1649, followed by a particularly fierce epidemic in London during the summer of 1665. This outbreak was so lethal that by October, one in ten London inhabitants had died, totaling over 60,000 fatalities. Similar mortality rates were observed in Holland during the same period. Although the pandemic eventually subsided by the early 19th century, a third plague pandemic struck China and India in the 1890s, and today, isolated outbreaks still occur, reminding us of the enduring legacy of these historical pandemics.