The Black Death is the name usually given to the great plague pandemic that struck Europe and surrounding regions from about 1347 to 1351, with many historians bracketing it as 1347–1352.

Quick answer

  • When people ask “when was the Black Death,” they are normally referring to:
    • Its main European outbreak: 1347–1351.
* Wider range sometimes used by historians: **1347–1352**.
  • It likely began earlier in parts of Central and East Asia, with evidence of plague deaths in the late 1330s and even possible outbreaks in the 1220s in Chinese sources.

Mini timeline

  • Late 1330s: Evidence of plague deaths in what is now Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia.
  • 1347: Plague reaches Europe via Black Sea and Mediterranean ports, then spreads rapidly inland.
  • 1348–1349: Sweeps through Italy, Spain, France, England, and much of Western Europe.
  • 1350–1352: Reaches northern Europe and Scandinavia; overall European pandemic period often given as 1347–1352.

So, in everyday terms: the Black Death was in the late 1340s into the early 1350s , with 1347–1351 as the core years most people mean when they ask “when was the Black Death.”

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.