1461 CEReputable sourceWell documented
The Last Byzantines: The Fall of Trebizond
On the timeline · around 1461 CE ·
What happened
A few Byzantine splinter-states outlived Constantinople itself. The Despotate of the Morea in Greece fell to the Ottomans in 1460, and in 1461 the Empire of Trebizond, a Black Sea remnant that had endured since 1204, surrendered to Mehmed II after a siege. With it, the last independent fragment of the Roman world was extinguished.
Why it matters
The fall of Trebizond in 1461 marked the true final end of the Roman Empire, more than two thousand years after Rome's founding. Nothing remained of the Byzantine state — only its immense legacy in law, religion, art, and learning.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. 1453: The Fall of Constantinople · Reputable source