Abstract
‘Pandemics and epidemics’ looks at the way plague is described in the historical record and considers its possible causes. The model of the first three pandemics is one created by western eyes, looking at parts of the world where they had commercial or imperial interests. This makes it difficult to build up a picture of the incidence of the disease and the causes of its appearance and disappearance. A number of variables are involved in the interactions between disease and the human and natural environments which shape it, such as climatic change and shifts in human behaviour.
