Bubonic Plague Map, Greek Translation

What it is

This is a map titled in Greek Spread of the Bubonic Plague in Europe. It is a translation of a plague map first uploaded to Wikimedia Commons on 5 June 2007, and the translation was made by the Greek Wikipedia user Lord Makro. Colour zones show the spread by period from 1347 to after 1351. Blue dots mark plague centres such as London, Paris, Florence and Thessaloniki, and black dots mark major cities. A legend appears in the upper left corner.

Why it matters

The Black Death of 1346 to 1353 is often shown in maps like this one, which turn a long epidemic into a visual story. This version is a modern translation of an earlier map, so it is a later reading of the pandemic rather than a source from the time. Its choice of cities and zones reflects the information its makers had.

Look closer

• Which cities are marked as plague centres, and what might be the reason for marking them differently from the major cities?
• How does the legend help you read the colour zones across the periods shown?
• Why might a translated map be useful for students, and what might be lost when a map is translated?