1989: Frankokratia: Not in France May 26, 2020

The fact that the original Franks spoke a Germanic language and not French despite modern France deriving its name from this is jarring, but there perhaps even more confusing is Frankokratia, a territory carved out of the former Byzantine Empire where people spoke Greek. Now, to be clear, this was the official name, along with Venetokratia in modern-day Greece, but both of these places were territories gained in crusades, and means 'Rule of the Franks' or '...of the Venetians' respectively. This area was often referred to collectively as Latinokratia or 'rule of the Latins', around Constantinople. Some minor territories in this area were controlled by Venice into the 19th century but never by France directly, despite the name.

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