The Black Death was the catastrophic first great wave of the Second Plague Pandemic, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Ancient DNA links its pandemic lineage to an outbreak near Lake Issyk-Kul in Central Asia in 1338–39. By the mid-1340s plague had reached the western Eurasian steppe and Black Sea region, and from 1347 it spread rapidly through interconnected maritime and overland networks into the Mediterranean, Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Rather than moving as a single continuous front, outbreaks often leapfrogged between commercial centers and ports before spreading into their surrounding hinterlands.
Between 1346 and the early 1350s, plague caused one of the most severe demographic catastrophes in recorded history. Estimates vary considerably, but perhaps 30–50% of Europe's population died, with mortality differing sharply between regions and communities. The resulting population collapse disrupted agriculture and commerce, intensified labor shortages, altered relationships between workers and landholders, and generated profound social, religious, political, and cultural responses. Recurrent plague outbreaks continued for centuries, making the Black Death not an isolated disaster but the opening phase of a much longer historical pandemic.
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