Constantine | |
---|---|
State | Constantine |
Country | Algeria |
Capital | |
Population | 448374 |
Constantine I (Latin: Flavius Valerius Constantinus; Greek: Κωνσταντῖνος, translit. Kōnstantînos; 27 February c. 272 – 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from 306 to 337. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterranea (now Niš, Serbia), he was the son of Flavius Constantius, an Illyrian army officer who became one of the four emperors of the Tetrarchy. His mother, Helena, was Greek and of low birth. Constantine served with distinction under emperors Diocletian and Galerius campaigning in the eastern provinces against barbarians and the Persians, before being recalled west in 305 to fight under his father in Britain. After his father's death in 306, Constantine was acclaimed as emperor by the army at Eboracum (York). He emerged victorious in the civil wars against emperors Maxentius and Licinius to become sole ruler of the Roman Empire by 324.
As emperor, Constantine enacted administrative, financial, social and military reforms to strengthen the empire. He restructured the government, separating civil and military authorities. To combat inflation he introduced the solidus, a new gold coin that became the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years. The Roman army was reorganised to consist of mobile units (comitatenses), and garrison troops (limitanei) capable of countering internal threats and barbarian invasions. Constantine pursued successful campaigns against the tribes on the Roman frontiers—the Franks, the Alamanni, the Goths and the Sarmatians—even resettling territories abandoned by his predecessors during the Crisis of the Third Century.
Constantine was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. Although he lived much of his life as a pagan, and later as a catechumen, he joined the Christian religion on his deathbed, being baptised by Eusebius of Nicomedia. He played an influential role in the proclamation of the Edict of Milan in 313, which declared tolerance for Christianity in the Roman Empire.
Great Yarmouth | |
---|---|
State | |
Country | |
Capital | |
Population | 0 |
Great Yarmouth, often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort and minster town in Norfolk, England, straddling the River Yare, some 20 miles (30 km) east of Norwich. A population of 38,693 in the 2011 Census made it Norfolk's third most populous place. Its fishing industry, mainly for herring, shrank after the mid-20th century and has all but ended. North Sea oil from the 1960s brought an oil-rig supply industry that services offshore natural gas rigs. More recent offshore wind power and other renewable energy have led to further services. Yarmouth has been a resort since 1760 and a gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the North Sea.
Phuket (; Thai: ภูเก็ต, [pʰūː.kèt] (listen), Malay: Talang or Tanjung Salang) is one of the...
Trondheim (UK: , US: , Urban East Norwegian: [ˈtrɔ̂n(h)æɪm]; Southern Sami: Tråante; Kven:...
Río Gallegos (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈri.o ɣaˈʃeɣos]) is the capital and largest settlement of...