The basic premise of this book is that there does not exist an illustrated, non-academic study specifically focussed on the writings by non-Greek visitors about what had been formerly and is now again Greece, concerning its condition, and the lives of its native people, during the period when it did not exist as a country: the period between 1453, when the Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople and put an end to the Byzantine Greek state, and 1821, when Greece reappeared on the map of Europe in a part of the territory formerly inhabited by the Greek people, under a Provisional Government. This book aspires to fill that gap.

It is not unusual for countries to be temporarily occupied by enemies, and then restored to independence. A brief such interlude does not usually have overwhelming consequences. If however it lasts for centuries, and seriously damages the whole political, social and cultural structure, clearly it does bring about drastic changes in the nation, as well as in the geographical area which the nation inhabits. The nation so defined must have several features which cause its members to identify themselves as members of that State and of no other: usually language, history, race, religion, and culture. [...]

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