Historical overview of pandemics

In this chapter, we overview historical pandemic events that are closely associated with the evolution of transportation through case studies. The selected case studies are: (a) plague (14th, 17th, and 19th centuries), (b) Spanish flu (20th century), and (c) SARS (21st century). Historical pandemics reveal the connection between the spread of pandemics and development of transportation. Much faster and reliable means of mass transportation provide a greater capacity for people to travel across the world efficiently, but this advancement of transportation also carry infectious diseases to anywhere in the world. Transportation hubs (land, river, marine, and air) across the world should also play a large role in preventing and controlling the outbreak once the disease arrives. In this chapter, lessons from history that can be utilized to cope with the current global COVID-19 pandemic are illustrated and implications for transport policies and public health are discussed.