Dashed left edge = started before this timeline ·
Dashed right edge = still ongoing
Events in 549 1
541 – 549Plague of Justinian -- the first pandemicThe Plague of Justinian (541-549, with recurrences to 750) is the first pandemic in recorded history -- bubonic plague that kills perhaps 25-50 million people across the Mediterranean world. It strikes Constantinople at the height of Justinian's power, kills 5,000 people per day at its peak, and fatally undermines the economic and military foundations of the reconquest.