This eyewitness account describes the introduction of the Black Death to the port city of Sicily. How did the Silk Road contribute to the spread of this disease in Europe?

The plague was able to spread through the Silk Road as the Italian merchants traded in the ports of the Black Sea.

Explanation:

The first account of the epidemic arrived at Messina, in Sicily in 1347. The plague began to spread in the rest of Europe through trade route that connected the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. The epidemic was carried and spread by rats that board the ships with goods that came back to Italy. The trading with Asia was required because European needed items as silks and porcelain. Majority of the deaths happened in the trading city-states which were in the coastal region.

The silk road contributed to the spread because it carried the disease from Asia to Europe while they were trading.