This cholera timeline looks at the history of outbreaks and threats of cholera to human civilization over the course of time.
- 1543 – One of the first recorded outbreak in the Ganges Delta of modern-day Bangladesh and India.
- 1817 – Contaminated rice in Jessore, India launched a six-year cholera pandemic that spreads throughout Asia and the Middle East.
- 1829 – A second pandemic begins in India and spreads to Europe. The disease spread all the way to the Americas reaching Canada and the United States then stretching south into Latin America. The cholera pandemic finally faded in 1851.
- 1852 – The third cholera pandemic. Twenty-three thousand killed in Great Britain alone.
- 1863 – Fourth cholera pandemic. Hungary had 190,000 deaths from cholera.
- 1881 – Fifth cholera pandemic. Hamburg lost 1.5% of its population to cholera.
- 1899 – Sixth cholera pandemic.
- 1861 – Cholera pandemic begins in Indonesia.
- 1990 – Ninety percent of all cholera cases reported by the WHO are in Africa.
- 1991 – Cholera appeared in Peru after a 100-year absence. It then spread to surrounding countries in Latin America.
Learn more about the cholera timeline history and other diseases, outbreaks, and pandemics that threatened human civilization throughout history in our special podcast series: Plagued: Humanity’s History with Disease, Outbreaks, and Pandemics.
