The Economic and Social Changes that Arose In late 1347 to 1353 Europe experienced the worst demographic disaster in history. It has become widely referred and known by historians as The Black Death. The disease started out in Italy and spread like a whirl wind across Europe to the Scandinavian region to what is currently Russia. The plague, as most historians have come to refer it as, killed more between 18 million and 28 million people, and returned several times during the century leaving the anxious populations in confusion and despair for many years.