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Study: Volcanic Eruptions Brought the Black Death to Europe

A volcanic eruption around 1345 caused climate cooling and famine that forced Italian city-states to import grain from the Black Sea, likely carrying plague-infected fleas that spread the Black Death.

  • A massive volcanic eruption around 1345 caused temperatures to drop sharply for several years due to volcanic ash and gases blocking sunlight, leading to crop failures in the Mediterranean region.
  • To avoid starvation, Italian city-states imported grain from areas around the Black Sea, inadvertently bringing plague-carrying fleas that spread the Black Death to Europe.
  • The Black Death, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, swept across Europe in 1348-49, killing up to half of the population.
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A huge volcanic eruption may have triggered a chain reaction that led to the most devastating pandemic in European history: the Black Death, which between 1345 and 1353 killed between a third and a half of Europe's population at the time.

·Romania
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A new research proposed that volcanic activity in the tropics during the 14th century directly influenced the appearance and spread of black plague in Europe.The finding was published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment and developed by the Leibniz Institute of History and Culture of Eastern Europe (Germany) in conjunction with the University of Cambridge (UK).According to the study, the volcanic eruption would have generated sever…

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The Telegraph broke the news in London, United Kingdom on Thursday, December 4, 2025.
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