“Why Byzantine Economy Remained One of the Most Powerful in Europe Through Early Middle Ages?”

In 1054 the Byzantines split from the Roman Catholic Church in the west and developed the Eastern Orthodox Church. They prospered for almost a thousand years, but fell to the Turks in 1453. Byzantine history is often over looked, but there are many reasons they should be taught about in classrooms including their advanced military technology, the development and influence of Justinian’s code,

Culture means nothing without the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Empire evolved Christianity, a modern day religion and art that pieced together our society and it’s cultural studies of the background behind it. It is significantly important that the Byzantine Empire is continued to being studied because of the drastic influence it implemented to unify modern day religions, modify political and military strategies, and benefit our education of the world today. With the government unification and architectural protection of the Byzantine Empire, strategic military defense and the Justinian code were both created.

The Byzantine people must have suffered from numerous attacks resulting in their vulnerability and ultimately the immense loss of territory such as Anatolia (Doc 9.) This map illustrates the new empires that arose on once Byzantine land. The map shows the division of land between the invaders such as the Kingdoms of Bulgaria, the Kingdoms of Servia and Wallachian States, towards the end of the Crusades. The flow chart of the decline of Byzantium reveals the empire fell to many causes, one being external conflicts. The threat from Seljuk Turks grew, as were those of other civilizations wanting land or recognizing Byzantines weakness. The Seljuk Turks cut off trading routes between Constantinople and Asian provinces in order to establish a weak Capital to take over. The flow chart illustrates the empires internal environment crumbling due to constant external attack. Eventually other empires recognized Byzantines weakness and the fourth crusade sacks Constantinople weakening forces, allowing the Turks to finally take Constantinople in 1453 (doc 10.) The flowchart was created to show how each decision and action led to the

Silk soon became an imperial monopoly, and through this way, the trade of luxury items became the Byzantine’s main source of income. The location of Constantinople also aided in military conquest and defence, for the empire’s naval headquarters were located along the shores, and had access to the Black Sea and Mediterranean. Because of the Empire’s location, all but overlapping the fallen Roman’s territory, the Byzantine Empire was greatly affected by these Roman’s past traditions and ways of life.

The Byzantine Empire and Western Europe originally were part of the Roman Empire, but by the middle Ages(medieval times), they were very different, even though they did share some common traits, but by the 300's, the Byzantine Empire had far surpassed Western Europe in trade and economics and political unity, while both empires were having arguments over religion.

Marco Polo, an Italian merchant, believed that the immersive city of Tabriz was a noble one and that because it was well suited and situated for trade, merchants from all over parts of Europe journeyed there to buy and sell goods (Doc 6). A document from either a local source who was not a merchant is needed to justify Marco Polo’s biased view of Tabriz. Marco Polo, a merchant himself would try and find a way to relate everything he saw to trade, so this source is not very reliable. Document 9 is a map of Muslim sea and land trade routes, which shows the thorough and extensive trade network across Asia, Europe, and North Africa. Cities played a huge role in trade as well as cultural advancement.

In addition to political and social structure, both civilizations share the same economy. Byzantine and Islamic civilization use similar approaches to promote their economy. They have engaged in trading with other civilizations. Byzantine was a large exporter of grain and silk. Their

Following the decline of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, a new empire rose up in the ashes. This new empire, the Byzantine Empire, was a culmination of Western Roman cultures and tradition, yet, it also contains many distinctive features. Originating from the same empire, the two empires display similar cultural roots.

People say that the Byzantine Empire is compared to an accordion. Well, it is. Comparing all of the civilizations and empires we learned about, I find that the Byzantine has a history, where people living in that empire rise at on time and fall inconsiderably during another time. The Byzantine Empire is an empire ruled by Emperor Justantine, and Constantinople was the imperial capital of the Byzantine world until it was invaded by the Turks in 1453. Now, how does the imperial capital, Constantinople, Hagia Sophia, Justinian, and the Crusaders involve in the Byzantine Empire? I find that geography and the achievements of the Empire can be two strong reasoning’s on how and why we should study the Byzantine Empire.

The plague had a lot of effects on society. One example is the Nobles, before the plague they were the rulers and they were rich. After the plague they had less power because there was less Nobles. Another example was the Peasants, before the plague they were poor and worked for the Nobles. After the plague they had gained a little bit of power because there weren’t as many Nobles. It also affected the population by 25 million people. The cities were crowded before the plague and after there weren’t many people some cities were even abandon. The food was even a problem before the plague because there wasn’t enough so the prices were high and the only people that could afford it was the Nobles. After words the prices went down because there was plenty of food but not enough people.

know that the Byzantine changed the course of history. You should study the Byzantine Empire

In schools around the world we have social studies, where we talk about the past empires that affected today's world. We talk about the Roman Empire, the Egyptians, even the Chinese empires for there huge affect on common era but their is one that deserves just as much credit as the rest and that is the Byzantine empire. The Byzantine empire lasted well over 1000 years and happened right after the fall of the Roman Empire in the Middle East. I will be talking about why we need to study the Byzantine empire with three simple yet major reasons. First, I will be talking about the byzantines preservation of important documents.

Through history there have been devastating events during time periods, which eventually lead to positive outcomes, after all the sorrow comes the miracle everyone hoped for. As they say “there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.” As a matter of fact that is what happened during The Fourteenth century, it was one of the most devastating centuries, filled with horrible events, the outcome of those events led to the reshaping of Europe and Asia through trends and events. In Europe, during the Fourteenth Century, the population was soaring and there was surplus in the food supply.

Trade played an important role during the classical era, especially the Silk Road. People from China trade silk and pottery with the western area, and also the Roman Empire trade the iron weapon to the east. Trade system helped both two empire boost their economy, since local people were now able to have goods that come from other countries, it made the local people’s more meaningful, it helps the culture to spread as well. People had better social basis to improve their life quality, so the trade system really enhanced people’s life in the past even today. However, since it is a really crucial role, the decline of it must lead to a serious result such as the decline of both empire. Chinese merchants used to trade pottery, silk along the Silk Road, but the Huns invaded to the northern part of China. The Huns took up the place, and killed a huge amount of population, thus the Han could not develop the trade. To be specific, the most famous war is the one that Han retorted Huns, it began in 129 BCE and lasted for about 44 years. This war ceased the peace for a long time, merchants were not able to trade while the war happened in the city so severely. In the same manner or way, the decline of the trading affected Roman Empire as well. However, decline in trade affected Rome more than Han China. The Roman’s economy heavily relied on trading, since the trade routes became compromised, bandits

Once upon a time a group of wise, sober, and honest traders lived in Syria. They exported spices, gold, satins, etc far and wide. It so happened that the leading traders of this prosperous group made up their minds to go to Rome for business purposes. (141)