The bubonic plague, more commonly known as the Black Death, was a disease that swept through most of Europe and parts of Asia. It is notorious in the fact that it spread so quickly, and because it wiped out over 50% of the population in Europe and Asia.

The Black Death killed an estimate 75 to 200 million people. It peaked from 1348-50.

The bubonic plague is caused by the bacterium Y. pestis. It infected oriental rat fleas, which where transported by rats and in turn, came into contact with humans.