First plague pandemic
541–750 · Event
After Justinian's plague, Yersinia pestis returns in waves for two centuries, hollowing out the Mediterranean world between antiquity and Islam — then vanishes for 600 years.
On these timelines: Pandemics & Plagues, Master, Justinian and Theodora, Medicine & Public Health, Roman History
More from Pandemics & Plagues
- Invention of quarantine (1377)
- Cholera pandemics of the 19th century (1817)
- Third plague pandemic (1855)
- Antiretroviral therapy transforms HIV (1996)
- Variolation reaches Europe (1721)
- Yersin identifies the plague bacillus (1894)
- Ross proves mosquitoes transmit malaria (1897)
- Global polio eradication campaign (1988)
Around 541
- Fall of Western Roman Empire (476)
- Reign of Justinian I (527)
- Muhammad (570)
- Hijra (622)
- Tang dynasty (618)
- Muhammad's first revelation (610)
- Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain (450)
- Death of Muhammad (632)
- Battle of Yarmouk (636)
- Hagia Sophia (532)