DEADLIEST PANDEMICS IN HISTORY

BLACK DEATH

WHEN: 1347-1352

DEATHS: UP TO 200 MILLION

CAUSE: BUBONIC PLAGUE

History Today, a monthly magazine of historical writing published in London, calls this pandemic “the greatest catastrophe ever.” The number of deaths is astounding. Put it this way: That would be like wiping out roughly 65 per cent of the current U.S. population. Ole J. Benedictow, a University of Oslo historian, called this period of great global commerce the “golden age of bacteria.”