2. A Pandemic’s Path From China to Europe
The Plague of Justinian was caused by a strain of Yersinia pestis bacterium that probably originated near the Tian Shan Mountains in Central Asia, near the border between China and Kyrgyzstan. It was mainly bubonic, like the Black Death, and felled its victims with all the bubonic plague’s horrors. It first struck China and northern India, made its way via trade routes to the Great Lakes region of Africa, then down the Nile to Egypt.
The Plague of Justinian was transmitted by infected fleas carried by black rats. Egypt was the Eastern Roman Empire’s chief granary, and from its seaports, ships laden with grain – and also rats hosting infected fleas – sailed across the Mediterranean. The pandemic rapidly spread from Egypt to the rest of the Middle East, the Eastern Mediterranean, and Constantinople, which served as both capital and commercial centers for the East Roman Empire. From Constantinople, the pandemic rapidly spread through the rest of Europe.