<Li> Bosnia and Herzegovina </Li> <Tr> <Td> a . </Td> <Td_colspan="2"> ^ Since the Western Roman Empire was not a distinct state separate from the Eastern Roman Empire, there was no particular official term that designated the Western provinces or their government, which was simply known as the "Roman Empire". Terms such as Imperium Romanum Occidentalis and Hesperium Imperium were either never in official usage or invented long after the western court had fallen . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> b . </Td> <Td_colspan="2"> ^ The deposition of Romulus Augustulus in 476 is the most commonly cited end date for the Western Roman Empire . Other suggested dates include the death of Julius Nepos and the abolition of the title of "Western Roman Emperor" in 480 and the reorganization of Italy and abolition of separate Western Roman administrative institutions under Justinian I in 554 . </Td> </Tr> <P> In historiography, the Western Roman Empire consists of the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any one time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court, coequal with (or only nominally subordinate to) that administering the eastern half . Both "Western Roman Empire" and "Eastern Roman Empire" (or "Byzantine Empire") are modern terms describing de facto independent entities; however, at no point did the Romans consider the Empire split into two, but rather considered it a single state governed by two separate Imperial courts out of administrative expediency, a system of government known as a diarchy . </P>

Why did eastern and western europe split after the fall of rome