Whatever happened .....

[DemonArchangel]

It seems that the Byzantines as a people ceased to exist after the Turks invaded, did the Turks kill every byzantine?
Please shed some light on my question.

[Rosacrux]

Byzantium as an empire was a typical multinational state. The dominant people in the bounds of the Byzantine empire were the Greeks, but it also contained a host of other nations and ethnic groups.

So there was never some kind of "Byzantine People" to be removed by the Turks.

Of course the Turks (first the Seljuks and then the Ottomans) did indeed "cleared" vast areas of the empire of the Christian population, to make room for their own people. Before (beginning of 11th century) the invasion of the Seljuks in Asia Minor (the area we call today Turkey), 99% of the population was Christian and at least 50% Greek. In the 16th century only 40% of the population was non-Turk and non-Muslim.

But it's also fair to notice that under Ottoman rule each and every conquered ethnic group was able to preserve it's identity, even though the actual chances for prosperity for non-Turks non-Muslims were severely hampered.

But they didn't perform organized genocide like those performed by the "Neo-Turks" in the late 19th-early 20th century, when they wiped out several millions of people.

[Xiahou]

My understanding is that the inhabitants of Constantinople who survived the fall were essentially grouped into small neighborhoods in parts of the city. Many still live their today much the same way they did back then- within small communities within Istanbul.

[Rosacrux]

Actually, the jewish and armenian population of Constantinople (about 15% of the inhabitants) didn't have a good time, while the Greek population (the vast majority, maybe up to 80%) had to face serious persecutions in the first years after the Osman occupation.

But later on things went back to normal and the three abovementioned ethnic groups had the control of the trade in Constantinople, more or less. That changed in the 19th and 20th century, though.

The neo-turks have managed to exterminate or deport the Armenian and Jewish populations and to the greatest extend also the Greek. The first great purge occured around 1870 ( I don't remember the exact date) and in the three first decades of the 20th century numerous times the non-Turks of Constantinople faced the threat of extermination, by Turkish mob, militia or even the police and state security.

The last great purge of the Greek inhabitants of Constantinople occured in 1955, when many hundreds of Greeks were massacred.
Today less than 20.000 Greeks (not citizens, of Greek heritage) live in Constantinople.

[AxelThorn]

I agree with the idea that the bizantines were not slaughtered, but allowed to live as before. only one condition was in the muslim world for an ortodox. he should change his religion, or at least recognize Allah as God and Mohamed as his prophet.

I doubt that there were kilings of people without a more solid reason. The muslims they have never killed a conquered population, as a state policy.

If a local lord considered of his interest to kill a 100 people or more it was his own problem. but the he had to face the judgement of the sultan.

In my opinion, I think that the bizanitnes, or at least of them emigrated in Greece, Italy, Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania. The Balkan area is a mixture of ortodox and islamic beliefs.

It is normal for the byzantines to leave constantinopol if they were not aloved to have their religion, but also it must be stated that they were also great traders, in the early years of the Bizantium, and you can't say that the making money skill goes away.

[DemonArchangel]

many of the descendants of the Byzantines went west, and Byzantines arrived in Italy, many of them with greek texts, thus helping spur the Italian renaissance.

[chilliwilli]

I believe many survivers went south and stayed in the kingdom of Morea which was annexed by The Turks shortly after Constantinople.