First Cholera Pandemic

1817

From the Ganges delta, the vibrio traveled by pilgrim, trader, and soldier across Asia and the Middle East. Bengal villages emptied in days; Astrakhan reported piles of bodies. It was the first time the West met cholera, and the first of seven pandemics that would haunt the century. The disease would reach Britain in 1831, killing tens of thousands and forcing governments to confront the filth of industrial cities.