The Eurasian Steppe, located between China and Europe, contributed to the spread of the plague by serving as a meeting place for merchants traveling along the Silk Road. These merchants would capture marmots in the Steppe known to carry plague-causing bacteria pneumonically. When the merchants and buyers handled the infected marmot furs, they became carriers of the plague themselves and spread it throughout Europe and Asia along trade routes. The Justinian Plague that began in Ethiopia in the 6th century resembled the Black Death due to extreme weather changes and high mortality rates across Constantinople, the Middle East, Italy, and France.