What is Plague of Justinian?
The '''Plague of Justinian'''<ref>Little, Lester K., ed., Plague and the End of Antiquity: The Pandemic of 541–750, Cambridge, 2006. {{ISBN|0-521-84639-0}}.</ref> was a [[pandemic]] of the [[bubonic plague]] caused by the bacterium [[Yersinia pestis]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bubonic Plague - Document - Gale In Context: Science|url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=SCIC&u=azstatelibdev&id=GALE%7CCX8124400395&v=2.1&it=r&sid=bookmark-SCIC&asid=b4bea4b0|access-date=2023-04-29|website=go.gale.com}}</ref> It happened during the years of [[540s|541 to 542]] in the [[Byzantine Empire]] while under the rule of [[Justinian I]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Plague of Justinian Strikes Constantinople: 541–542 - Document - Gale In Context: World History|url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=WHIC&u=azstatelibdev&id=GALE%7CBWAYGM153607444&v=2.1&it=r&sid=bookmark-WHIC&asid=b629e9ed|access-date=2023-04-29|website=go.gale.com}}</ref> [[Historian]]s [[Estimation|estimate]] that this pandemic killed as many as 100 million people across the world,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://dpalm.med.uth.tmc.edu/courses/BT2003/BTstudents2003_files%5CPlague2003.htm |title=The History of the Bubonic Plague |access-date=2008-10-21 |archive-date=2008-04-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415231721/http://dpalm.med.uth.tmc.edu/courses/BT2003/BTstudents2003_files%5CPlague2003.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/1996/plague.htm |title=Scientists Identify Genes Critical to Transmission of Bubonic Plague |access-date=2008-10-21 |archive-date=2007-10-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071007012619/http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/1996/plague.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> partly because it returned every twelve years until 770, when it stopped for about 500 years. Between 541 and 700, the Plague of Justinian killed about half of the people in Europe.<ref>[http://www.ph.ucla.edu/EPI/bioter/anempiresepidemic.html An Empire's Epidemic]</ref> It also may have contributed to the success