Catalonia entered a period of crisis in the first 30 years of the 14th century and population growth came to a halt. In 1333, the poor harvest and the impossibility of importing wheat from Sicily and Sardinia due to the war with Genoa led to famine. In 1348, the Black Death arrived from the East and spread rapidly, leading to a high death rate amongst an undernourished populace. There were repeated poor harvests, outbreaks of plague and other natural catastrophes, such as earthquakes, during the 14th and 15th centuries, and the population, estimated at 500,000 around 1300, dropped to little more than 250,000 by 1480.