The
Second plague pandemic is a major series of epidemics of the
plague that started with the
Black Death, which reached mainland Europe in 1348 and killed up to a third of the population in the next four years. Although it died out in most places, it became
epizootic and recurred regularly until the nineteenth century. A series of major plagues occurred in the late 17th century and it recurred in some places until the 19th. After this a new strain of the bacterium appeared as the
third pandemic.