Table of Contents
Read Next
The Byzantine Empire was a continuation of the Roman Empire in the eastern Mediterranean area after the loss of the western provinces to Germanic kingdoms in the 5th century. Although it lost some of its eastern lands to the Muslims in the 7th century, it lasted until Constantinople—the new capital founded by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great in 330—fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. The empire was seriously weakened in 1204 when, as a result of the Fourth Crusade, its lands were partitioned and Constantinople captured, but until then it had remained a powerful centralized state, with a ...(100 of 117691 words)