Charles regarded his Sicilian territories as a springboard for his Mediterranean ambitions, which included the overthrow of Michael VIII Palaiologos of the Byzantine Empire and the capture of Constantinople. Once the richest city in the western world, Constantinople was attacked and plundered during the Fourth Crusade and further subjugated, reduced in population and stripped of its art and treasures for the next 57 years under the rule of the Latin Empire. With the Byzantine recapture of the city in 1261, Michael VIII Palaiologos continued to rebuild what was left of the economically strategic city as an important trade route to Europe.