In the Middle Ages, the origin of the plague was still unknown. From there, the plague spread to Europe via the trade routes and, according to estimates, killed a third of Europe’s population between 13. The port city of Caffa on the Crimean peninsula, today’s Feodosia in the Ukraine, was one of the most important trading colonies of Genoa at that time. In 1347, the Black Death came to Central Europe – probably on ships from the Near East. The “Black Death”īetween the Bronze Age and the end of the 19th century, several waves of plague swept across entire continents.

A case in point was the bacterium that made world history: Yersinia pestis, the bacterium causing the plague. Ever since human beings became sedentary, pathogens have found the breeding grounds they need to thrive in human civilisation.

The Spanish flu alone killed up to 50 million people between 19.

Time and again throughout history, epidemics decimated entire regions. HIV, SARS, Ebola and now corona: numerous epidemics in recent decades have shown that it is a fallacy to hope that humanity would finally overcome scourges such as these through technological progress.