Great Plague of Marseille

Contemporary painting of Marseille during the Great Plague
Public notice on the disposal of corpses during the Great Plague, 1720

The Great Plague of Marseille, also known as the Plague of Provence, was the last major outbreak of bubonic plague in Western Europe. Arriving in Marseille, France, in 1720, the disease killed over 100,000 people: 50,000 in the city during the next two years and another 50,000 to the north in surrounding provinces and towns.[1]

While economic activity took only a few years to recover, as trade expanded to the West Indies and Latin America, it was not until 1765 that the population returned to its pre-1720 level.

  1. ^ Duchêne & Contrucci, 2004