The Genoese held the colony of Galata on the Golden Horn across from the city of Constantinople since 1261 as part of the Treaty of Nymphaeum, a trade agreement between the Byzantines and Genoese. However, the dilapidated state of the Byzantine Empire following the civil war of 1341–1347 was easily shown in the control of custom duties through the strategic straights of the Bosphorus. Even though Constantinople was the Imperial seat of power with its cultural and military center on the shores of the Bosphorus, only thirteen percent of custom dues passing through the strait were going to the Empire. The remaining 87 percent was collected by the Genoese from their colony of Galata. Genoa collected 200,000 hyperpyra from annual custom revenues from Galata, while Constantinople collected a mer