Plagues and Pandemics: Black Death, Coronaviruses and Other Deadly Diseases of the Past, Present and Future

An overview of deadly diseases from throughout world history spanning from prehistoric civilizations to the twenty-first century.

All you need for a plague to go pandemic are population clusters and travelers spreading the bacterial or viral pathogens. Many prehistoric civilizations died fast, leaving cities undamaged to mystify archeologists. Plague in Athens killed 30% of the population 430–426 BCE. When Roman Emperor Justinian I caught bubonic plague in 541 CE, contemporary historian Pro...