<P> Plague was reportedly first introduced to Europe via Genoese traders at the port city of Kaffa in the Crimea in 1347 . After a protracted siege , during which the Mongol army under Jani Beg was suffering from the disease , the army catapulted the infected corpses over the city walls of Kaffa to infect the inhabitants . The Genoese traders fled , taking the plague by ship into Sicily and the south of Europe , whence it spread north . Whether or not this hypothesis is accurate , it is clear that several existing conditions such as war , famine , and weather contributed to the severity of the Black Death . </P>
<P> Plague was reportedly first introduced to Europe via Genoese traders at the port city of Kaffa in the Crimea in 1347 . After a protracted siege , during which the Mongol army under Jani Beg was suffering from the disease , the army catapulted the infected corpses over the city walls of Kaffa to infect the inhabitants . The Genoese traders fled , taking the plague by ship into Sicily and the south of Europe , whence it spread north . Whether or not this hypothesis is accurate , it is clear that several existing conditions such as war , famine , and weather contributed to the severity of the Black Death . </P>
when did the black death start in europe
when did the black death start in europe
1347
1347