Great Plague of Seville Facts for Kids

The Great Plague of Seville was a terrible sickness that spread across Spain between 1647 and 1652. It was so bad that it killed about one-fourth of the people living in the city of Seville.

What Was the Great Plague?
See also

What Was the Great Plague?

The Great Plague of Seville was a huge outbreak of disease. It was different from an earlier plague that hit Spain from 1596 to 1602. That first plague started in northern and central Spain. But the Great Plague of Seville likely came from Algeria and first hit the Mediterranean coast of Spain.

How the Plague Spread

The city of Valencia was the first place to be hit hard. About 30,000 people died there. The sickness then spread quickly through a region called Andalusia. It also moved north into areas like Catalonia and Aragon. The coast near Málaga lost more than 50,000 people.

Seville's Struggle

In Seville, rules to stop the sickness from spreading, called quarantine measures, were not followed or were not even put in place. This had terrible results. Seville and its nearby areas were thought to have lost 150,000 people. Before the plague, about 600,000 people lived there. Across all of Spain, about 500,000 people died. This was nearly 5% of Spain's total population at the time.

Other Plagues in Spain

The Great Plague of Seville was the biggest plague in Spain during the 1600s, but it wasn't the only one.

Almost 25 years later, another plague hit Spain. For nine years, from 1676 to 1685, waves of the disease attacked the country. It was especially bad in Andalusia and Valencia. At the same time, there was a bad harvest in 1682-1683, which caused a famine. This made people weak and tired, and tens of thousands more died. By the time this plague ended in 1685, it had taken over 250,000 lives. This was the last major plague in Spain in the 17th century.

The Three Major Plagues

Spain faced three big plagues in the 1600s:

The Plague of 1596–1602: This arrived by ship from northern Europe, likely the Netherlands. It spread south through central Spain, reaching Madrid by 1599 and Seville by 1600.
The Plague of 1646–1652: This was "The Great Plague of Seville." It is believed to have arrived by ship from Algeria. It spread north along the coast, affecting towns and their surrounding areas along the Mediterranean.
The Plague of 1676–1685: This was the last major outbreak of the century.

Historians believe that these plagues caused at least 1.25 million deaths in Spain throughout the 17th century. Because of this, Spain's population hardly changed between 1596 and 1696.

What Caused the Plague?

Scientists generally believe that these plagues were bubonic plague. This sickness is caused by a tiny germ called Yersinia pestis. It is usually spread by rats, which carry infected fleas. Other forms of the plague, like septicemic plague (affecting the blood) and pneumonic plague (affecting the lungs), were also present.

Great Plague of Seville facts for kids

Contents