The Byzantines, however, managed to stop further Islamic expansion into their la

nds during the 8th century and, beginning in the 9th century, reclaimed parts of
the conquered lands.[27][28] In 1000 AD, the Eastern Empire was at its height:
Basileios II reconquered Bulgaria and Armenia, culture and trade flourished.[29]
However, soon after the expansion was abruptly stopped in 1071 with their defea
t in the Battle of Manzikert. The aftermath of this important battle sent the em
pire into a protracted period of decline. Two decades of internal strife and Tur
kic invasions ultimately paved the way for Emperor Alexius I Comnenus to send a
call for help to the Western European kingdoms in 1095.[24]
The West responded with the Crusades, eventually resulting in the Sack of Consta
ntinople by participants in the Fourth Crusade. The conquest of Constantinople i
n 1204 fragmented what remained of the Empire into successor states, the ultimat
e victor being that of Nicaea.[30] After the recapture of Constantinople by Impe
rial forces, the Empire was little more than a Greek state confined to the Aegea
n coast. The Byzantine Empire collapsed when Mehmed II conquered Constantinople
on 29 May, 1453.[31]
Geography and demography
Main article: Demography of the Roman Empire
Further information: Classical demography
The Roman Empire was one of the largest in history, with contiguous territories
throughout Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.[32] The Latin phrase imper
ium sine fine ("empire without end"[33]) expressed the ideology that neither tim
e nor space limited the Empire. In Vergil's epic poem the Aeneid, limitless empi
re is said to be granted to the Romans by their supreme deity Jupiter.[34] This
claim of universal dominion was renewed and perpetuated when the Empire came und
er Christian rule in the 4th century.[35]
In reality, Roman expansion was mostly accomplished under the Republic, though p
arts of northern Europe were conquered in the 1st century AD, when Roman control
in Europe, Africa and Asia was strengthened. During the reign of Augustus, a "g
lobal map of the known world" was displayed for the first time in public at Rome
, coinciding with the composition of the most comprehensive work on political ge
ography that survives from antiquity, the Geography of the Pontic Greek writer S
trabo.[36] When Augustus died, the commemorative account of his achievements (Re
s Gestae) prominently featured the geographical cataloguing of peoples and place
s within the Empire.[37] Geography, the census, and the meticulous keeping of wr
itten records were central concerns of Roman Imperial administration.[38]
A segment of the ruins of Hadrian's Wall in northern England
The Empire reached its largest expanse under Trajan (reigned 98 117),[39] encompas
sing an area of 5 million square kilometres that as of 2009 was divided among fo
rty different modern countries.[40] The traditional population estimate of 55 60 m
illion inhabitants[41] accounted for between one-sixth and one-fourth of the wor
ld's total population[42] and made it the largest population of any unified poli
tical entity in the West until the mid-19th century.[43] Recent demographic stud
ies have argued for a population peak ranging from 70 million to more than 100 m
illion.[44] Each of the three largest cities in the Empire Rome, Alexandria, and A
ntioch was almost twice the size of any European city at the beginning of the 17t
h century.[45]
As the historian Christopher Kelly has described it:
Then the empire stretched from Hadrian's Wall in drizzle-soaked northern Eng
land to the sun-baked banks of the Euphrates in Syria; from the great Rhine Danube
river system, which snaked across the fertile, flat lands of Europe from the Lo
w Countries to the Black Sea, to the rich plains of the North African coast and
the luxuriant gash of the Nile Valley in Egypt. The empire completely circled th
e Mediterranean ... referred to by its conquerors as mare nostrum 'our sea'.[41]

Trajan's successor Hadrian adopted a policy of maintaining rather than expanding

the empire. Borders (fines) were marked, and the frontiers (limites) patrolled.
[46] The most heavily fortified borders were the most unstable.[47] Hadrian's Wa
ll, which separated the Roman world from what was perceived as an ever-present b
arbarian threat, is the primary surviving monument of this effort.[48]