History
Pre-Modern Pandemics
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Updated:4/9/2026
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Pandemic↕ | Period↕ | Origin↕ | Likely Pathogen↕ | Estimated Deaths↕ | Known For↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Black Death | 1346-1353 | Central Asia | Yersinia pestis (bubonic plague) | 75-200 million | Killed 30-50% of Europe, social upheaval, end of feudalism |
Plague of Justinian | 541-549 AD | Egypt/East Africa | Yersinia pestis | 15-100 million | Crippled Byzantine Empire under Justinian I, contributed to fall of antiquity |
Antonine Plague | 165-180 AD | Near East | Smallpox or measles | 5-10 million | Killed emperor Lucius Verus, weakened Roman army, struck returning Parthian legions |
Plague of Cyprian | 249-262 AD | Ethiopia | Possibly smallpox or hemorrhagic fever | Millions | Crisis of Third Century, 5,000/day in Rome, named for St. Cyprian's account |
Cocoliztli Epidemic | 1545-1548, 1576 | Mexico (possibly endemic) | Salmonella enterica Paratyphi C | 7-17 million indigenous | Killed 80% of native Mexicans after Spanish arrival, worse than smallpox |
Columbian Exchange Smallpox | 1520s-1600s | Europe via Cortes | Variola major | Up to 56 million Indigenous Americans | Devastated Aztec and Inca empires, enabled European conquest |
Third Plague Pandemic | 1855-1960s | Yunnan, China | Yersinia pestis | 12-15 million | Spread via steamships to India (10m dead), Hong Kong identification of bacillus |
1817 Cholera Pandemic | 1817-1824 | Bengal | Vibrio cholerae | 100,000s-millions | First of 7 cholera pandemics, spread via British troops and trade |
Russian Flu | 1889-1890 | Central Asia/Russia | Influenza (possibly H3N8 or coronavirus) | 1 million | First pandemic in age of telegraph and rail, global in months |
Plague of Athens | 430-426 BC | Ethiopia via Piraeus | Debated (typhoid, smallpox, Ebola?) | 75,000-100,000 | Killed Pericles, weakened Athens in Peloponnesian War, described by Thucydides |
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