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At which Sicilian port did the Black Death first arrive in Europe in October 1347?
Twelve Genoese galleys arrived at Messina in October 1347 carrying sick and dying men. The port authorities ordered the ships back out to sea — too late. From Messina the pandemic spread across the Mediterranean within months.
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The Great Mortality Between 1347 and 1351 a pandemic killed somewhere between a third and half of everyone in Europe. Contemporaries called it the Great Mortality. It was the largest single demographic event in recorded human history.
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