did the black death ever reach america?

Question

i was wondering about this and thought that if the plague was in asia and europe did it ever go to the americas

Answer 1

Lyle is correct. Here is a site...
http://www.dhpe.org/infect/plague.html

The other answers also are incorrect in saying there was no contact with the Americas and Europe during the plague.

The plague of London killed over tens of thousands of people and occurred in 1665. The American colonies enacted quarantines, and I couldn't find (in a cursory search) whether there was a big problem.

More importantly was the Chinese plague in 1899. A ship brought that to San Francisco and the plague was here! It continued until around 1910.

Answer 2

Not that we know of, and in all probability, no.
Europeans had not, at the time that plague ravaged Europe, yet set foot on North, or South, America. History does record what happened to the indigenous peoples when the Europeans did arrive...they sickened and died with diseases they had never known before.
Until the first years of the twentieth century, plague was unknown in North and South America. That is ironic, since those two continents now constitute the world's largest loci of infection. The infection of the "New World" occurred as a consequence of the third great plague pandemic, which officially began in 1894, though many experts cite 1850 as its real starting point.

Answer 3

Nope, there was no contact between Europe and America that early. The Bubonic Plague was just in Europe and Asia (and boy did it do a number on those two places).

Answer 4

Nope it Never Reached the America's.

The plague traveled on trade routes and caravans. Its path of death was generally from south to north and east to west passing through Italy, France, England, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Finland, and eventually reaching Greenland.

This is an Excerpt From a Site About the Black Death. I found the site Interesting. Hope it Helps You!

Answer 5

The Black Death's first and most famous appearence occured in the 1340s, long before the Americas were in direct contact with the rest of the world. It reappeared every generation or so, with a variance of severities. It really fizzled out around the late 1700s. But, while there were a few isolated reports of the disease in North America, no epidemic ever occured and the disease never became any kind of problem in either North or South America.

Answer 6

No, there wasn't any contact between America and either Europe or Asia at that time. And rats cannot swim that far. That's the reason why the Indians were without protection against European illnesses, they had never been in contact with them before.

Answer 7

Yes Yrsina Pestis bubonic plague was and is in the new world. Even southwestern cultures had, or have, practices about keeping rodents out of the residence and things, including kangaroo rats which is a different rodent-spread illness. Why would anyone think that plague would only spread westward from its Asian source?

Answer 8

There have been isolated outbreaks of bubonic plague in the United States in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, but totally unconnected with the European 'black plague' of the medieval period.

Answer 9

Bubonic plague has occurred in America. In fact it is present in rodent population in the west to this day

Answer 10

It is more evidence that the 'rat and flea' account of the Black Death is untrue. Examination of die and spread patterns and bones of plague victims shows it was more likely a viral infection.