What was the Byzantine Empire?

After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, it split into many nations. The eastern part of the Roman Empire became the Byzantine Empire with Constantinople as its capital city rather than Rome. The Byzantine citizens continued to refer to themselves as Romans, and believed themselves as the successor to the former empire, however their culture was more Greek than Latin. The Byzantine Empire continued to be the most powerful nation in Europe until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453.