Fernand Braudel (; 24 August 1902 – 27 November 1985) was a French historian and leader of the Annales School. His scholarship focused on three main projects: ''The Mediterranean'' (1923–49, then 1949–66), ''Civilization and Capitalism'' (1955–79), and the unfinished ''Identity of France'' (1970–85). He was a member of the Annales School of French

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians h ...

and

social history Social history, often called the new social history, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in his ...

in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a student of

Henri Hauser Henri Hauser (19 July 1866 – 27 May 1946) was a French historian, geographer, and economist. A pioneer in the study of the economic history of the early modern period, he also wrote on contemporary economic issues and held the first chair in e ...

Plaque Fernand Braudel, 59 rue Brillat-Savarin, Paris 13

Braudel emphasized the role of large-scale socioeconomic factors in the making and writing of history. He can also be considered one of the precursors of world-systems theory.

Biography

Braudel was born in Luméville-en-Ornois (as of 1943, merged with and part of Gondrecourt-le-Château), in the département of the

Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a ...

, France.Marnie Hughes-Warrington, ''Fifty Key Thinkers on History'' (London: Routledge, 2000), 17. At the age of 7, his family moved to Paris. His father, who was a natural mathematician, aided him in his studies. Braudel also studied a good deal of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

and a little Greek. Braudel was educated at the Lycée Voltaire and the Sorbonne, where at the age of 20 he was awarded an ''agrégé'' in history. While teaching at the University of Algiers between 1923 and 1932, he became fascinated by the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

and wrote several papers on the Spanish presence in Algeria in the 16th century. During this time, Braudel began his doctoral thesis on the foreign policy of King

Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...

. From 1932 to 1935 he taught in the Paris ''lycées'' (secondary schools or high schools) of Pasteur,

Condorcet Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis of Condorcet (; 17 September 1743 – 29 March 1794), known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French philosopher and mathematician. His ideas, including support for a liberal economy, free and equal p ...

, and Henri-IV. By 1900, the French solidified their cultural influence in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

through the establishment of the Brazilian Academy of Fine Arts.

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...

still lacked a university, however, and in 1934 francophile Julio de Mesquita Filho invited anthropologist

Claude Lévi-Strauss Claude Lévi-Strauss (, ; 28 November 1908 – 30 October 2009) was a French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology. He held the chair of Social Anthr ...

and Braudel to help establish one. The result was formation of the new

University of São Paulo The University of São Paulo ( pt, Universidade de São Paulo, USP) is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian public university and the country's most prestigious educational institution, the bes ...

. Braudel later said that the time in Brazil was the "greatest period of his life." In 1937, Braudel returned to Paris from Brazil. However, the journey was as significant as arriving at his destination; on his way, he met

Lucien Febvre Lucien Paul Victor Febvre (, ; 22 July 1878 – 11 September 1956) was a French historian best known for the role he played in establishing the Annales School of history. He was the initial editor of the ''Encyclopédie française'' together wit ...

, who was the co-founder of the influential '' Annales'' journal. The two had booked passage on the same ship. Braudel had started archival research on his doctorate on the Mediterranean when he fell under the influence of the ''Annales'' School around 1938. Also around this time he entered the École pratique des hautes études as an instructor in history. He worked with Lucien Febvre, who would later read the early versions of Braudel's ''magnum opus'' and provide him with editorial advice. At the outbreak of war in 1939, he was called up for military service and in 1940 was taken prisoner by the Germans. He was held at a POW camp in

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

from 1940 to 1942 before being transferred to a POW camp near

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

, where he remained for the rest of the war. While in that camp, Braudel drafted his great work ''La Méditerranée et le Monde Méditerranéen à l'époque de Philippe II'' (''The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II''), without access to his books or notes and relying only on his prodigious memory and a local library. Braudel became the leader of the second generation of ''Annales'' historians after 1945. In 1947, with Febvre and Charles Morazé, Braudel obtained funding from the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropy, philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, aft ...

in New York and founded the noted Sixième Section for "Economic and social sciences" at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes. He received an additional $1 million from the Ford Foundation in 1960. In 1962, he and Gaston Berger used the Ford Foundation grant and government funds to create a new independent foundation, the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme (FMSH), which Braudel directed from 1970 until his death. It was housed in the building called "Maison des Sciences de l'Homme". FMSH focused its activities on international networking in order to disseminate the ''Annales'' approach to Europe and the world. In 1972 he gave up all editorial responsibility on the journal, although his name remained on the masthead. In 1962, he wrote ''A History of Civilizations'' as the basis for a history course, but its rejection of the traditional event-based narrative was too radical for the French ministry of education, which in turn rejected it. A feature of Braudel's work was his compassion for the suffering of marginal people. He articulated that most surviving historical sources come from the literate wealthy classes. He emphasized the importance of the ephemeral lives of slaves, serfs, peasants, and the urban poor, demonstrating their contributions to the wealth and power of their respective masters and societies. His work was often illustrated with contemporary depictions of daily life, rarely with pictures of noblemen or kings. In 1949, Braudel was elected to the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris n ...

upon Febvre's retirement. He co-founded the academic journal, '' Revue économique,'' in 1950. He retired in 1968. In 1983, he was elected to the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

''La Méditerranée''

His first book, ''La Méditerranée et le Monde Méditerranéen à l'Epoque de Philippe II'' (1949) (''The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II'') was his most influential and has been described as a "watershed". For Braudel there is no single Mediterranean Sea. There are many seas—indeed a "vast, complex expanse" within which men operate. Life is conducted on the Mediterranean: people travel, fish, fight wars, and drown in its various contexts. And the sea articulates with the plains and islands. Life on the plains is diverse and complex; the poorer south is affected by religious diversity (

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

), as well as by intrusions – both cultural and economic – from the north. In other words, the Mediterranean cannot be understood independently from what is exterior to it. Any rigid adherence to boundaries falsifies the situation. The first level of time, geographical time, is that of the environment, with its slow, almost imperceptible change, its repetition and cycles. Such change may be slow, but it is irresistible. The second level of time comprises long-term social, economic, and cultural history, where Braudel discusses the Mediterranean economy, social groupings, empires and civilizations. Change at this level is much more rapid than that of the environment; Braudel looks at two or three centuries in order to spot a particular pattern, such as the rise and fall of various aristocracies. The third level of time is that of events (''histoire événementielle''). This is the history of individuals with names. This, for Braudel, is the time of surfaces and deceptive effects. It is the time of the "''courte durée''" proper and it is the focus of Part 3 of ''The Mediterranean'' which treats of "events, politics and people." Braudel's Mediterranean is centered on the sea, but just as important, it is also the desert and the mountains. The desert creates a nomadic form of social organization where the whole community moves; mountain life is sedentary. Transhumance — that is, the movement from the mountain to the plain, or vice versa in a given season — is also a persistent part of Mediterranean existence. Braudel's vast, panoramic view used insights from other social sciences, employed the concept of the ''

longue durée The ''longue durée'' (; en, the long term) is the French Annales School approach to the study of history. It gives priority to long-term historical structures over what François Simiand called ''histoire événementielle'' ("evental history", ...

'', and downplayed the importance of specific events. It was widely admired, but most historians did not try to replicate it and instead focused on their specialized monographs. The book firmly launched the study of the Mediterranean and dramatically raised the worldwide profile of the '' Annales School.''

Capitalism

After ''La Méditerranée'', Braudel's most famous work is ''Civilisation Matérielle, Économie et Capitalisme, XV^e-XVIII^e'' ('' Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century''). The first volume was published in 1967, and was translated to English in 1973. The last of the three-volume work appeared in 1979. The work is a broad-scale history of the pre-industrial modern world, presented in the minute detail demanded by the methodological school called cliometrics, and focusing on how regular people made economies work. Like all Braudel's major works, the book mixed traditional economic material with thick description of the social impact of economic events on various facets of everyday life, including

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is in ...

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fash ...

, and other

social custom Social norms are shared standards of acceptable behavior by groups. Social norms can both be informal understandings that govern the behavior of members of a society, as well as be codified into rules and laws. Social normative influences or soci ...

s. The third volume, subtitled "The Perspective of the World", was strongly influenced by the work of German scholars like Werner Sombart. In this volume, Braudel traced the impact of the centers of Western capitalism on the rest of the world. Braudel wrote the series both as a way of explanation for the modern way and partly as a refutation of the Marxist view of history.Gwynne Lewis, "Braudel, Fernand," in ''The Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing'', edited by Kelly Boyd (Chicago: FitzRoy Dearborn, 1999) 114. Braudel discussed the idea of long-term cycles in the capitalist economy that he saw developing in Europe in the 12th century. Particular cities, and later nation-states, follow each other sequentially as centers of these cycles:

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

in the 13th through the 15th centuries (1250–1510);

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

and

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

in the 16th century (1500–1569 and 1557–1627, respectively),

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

in the 16th through 18th centuries (1627–1733); and London (and England) in the 18th and 19th centuries (1733–1896). He used the word "structures" to denote a variety of social structures, such as organized behaviours, attitudes, and conventions, as well as physical structures and infrastructures. He argued that the structures established in Europe during the Middle Ages contributed to the successes of present-day European-based cultures. He attributed much of this to the long-standing independence of city-states, which, though later subjugated by larger geographic states, were not always completely suppressed—probably for reasons of utility. Braudel argued that capitalists have typically been monopolists and not, as is usually assumed, entrepreneurs operating in competitive markets. He argued that capitalists did not specialize and did not use free markets, thus diverging from both liberal (

Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptized 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the thinking of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as "The Father of Economics"——� ...

) and Marxian interpretations. In Braudel's view, the state in capitalist countries has served as a guarantor of monopolists rather than a protector of competition, as it is usually portrayed. He asserted that capitalists have had power and cunning on their side as they have arrayed themselves against the majority of the population. An agrarian structure is a long-term structure in the Braudelian understanding of the concept. On a larger scale the agrarian structure is more dependent on the regional, social, cultural and historical factors than on the state's undertaken activities.

''L'Identité de la France''

Braudel's last and most personal book was ''L'Identité de la France'' (''The Identity of France''), which was unfinished at the time of his death in 1985. Unlike many of Braudel's other books, he made no secret of his profound love of his country, remarking at the beginning that he had loved France as if she were a woman. Reflecting his interest with the ''longue durée'', Braudel's concern in ''L'Identité de la France'' was with the centuries and millennia instead of the years and decades. Braudel argued that France was the product not of its politics or economics but rather of its geography and culture, a thesis Braudel explored in a wide-ranging book that saw the ''bourg'' and the ''patois: historie totale'' integrated into a broad sweep of both the place and the time. Unlike Braudel's other books, ''L'Identité de la France'' was much colored by a romantic nostalgia, as Braudel argued for the existence of ''la France profonde'', a "deep France" based upon the peasant ''mentalité'' that despite all of the turmoil of French history and the Industrial Revolution had survived intact right up to the present.

Historiography

According to Braudel, before the ''Annales'' approach, the writing of history was focused on the ''courte durée'' (short span), or on ''histoire événementielle'' (a history of events). His followers admired his use of the ''longue durée'' approach to stress the slow and often imperceptible effects of space, climate and technology on the actions of human beings in the past. The ''Annales'' historians, after living through two world wars and massive political upheavals in France, were very uncomfortable with the notion that multiple ruptures and discontinuities created history. They preferred to stress inertia and the ''longue durée'', arguing that the continuities in the deepest structures of society were central to history. Upheavals in institutions or the superstructure of social life were of little significance, for history, they argued, lies beyond the reach of conscious actors, especially the will of revolutionaries. They rejected the Marxist idea that history should be used as a tool to foment and foster revolutions. A proponent of historical materialism, Braudel rejected Marxist materialism, stressing the equal importance of infrastructure and superstructure, both of which reflected enduring social, economic, and cultural realities. Braudel's structures, both mental and environmental, determine the long-term course of events by constraining actions on, and by, humans over a duration long enough that they are beyond the consciousness of the actors involved.

Awards and honors

Honorary degrees

* Université libre de Bruxelles *

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city o ...

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

University of Padua The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from ...

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loc ...

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte- ...

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

Orders of Merit

* Commander of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleo ...

* Commander of the

Ordre des Palmes académiques A suite, in Western classical music and jazz, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/ concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes and grew in scope to comprise up to five dances, sometimes w ...

Learned societies

* Member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

* Member of the

Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledg ...

* Member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities * Member of the

Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( hu, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA) is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. Its ma ...

* Member of the

Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Serbica, sr-Cyr, Српска академија наука и уметности, САНУ, Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti, SANU) is a national academy and the ...

Legacy

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public research university with campuses in Binghamton, Vestal, and Johnson City, New York. It is one of the four university centers in the Stat ...

in New York has a

Fernand Braudel Center The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public research university with campuses in Binghamton, Vestal, and Johnson City, New York. It is one of the four university centers in the State ...

, and there is an Instituto Fernand Braudel de Economia Mundial in

, Brazil. In a 2011 poll by ''

History Today ''History Today'' is an illustrated history magazine. Published monthly in London since January 1951, it presents serious and authoritative history to as wide a public as possible. The magazine covers all periods and geographical regions and pub ...

'' magazine, Fernand Braudel was picked as the most important historian of the previous 60 years.

Main publications

*''La Méditerranée et le Monde Méditerranéen a l'époque de Philippe II'', 3 vols. (originally appeared in 1949; revised several times) : vol. 1: ''La part du milieu'' : vol. 2: ''Destins collectifs et mouvements d'ensemble'' : vol. 3: ''Les événements, la politique et les hommes'' * ''The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II''. 2 vols. (second revised edition, translated 1972 and 1973 by Sian Reynolds
excerpt and text search vol 1excerpt and text search vol 2
*''Ecrits sur l'Histoire'' (1969) *''Civilisation matérielle, économie et capitalisme, XV^e-XVIII^e siècle'' : vol. 1: ''Les structures du quotidien'' (1967) : vol. 2: ''Les jeux de l'échange'' (1979) : vol. 3: ''Le temps du monde'' (1979) *''Civilization and Capitalism, 15th–18th Century'', translated by Siân Reynolds, 3 vols. (1979) : vol. 1: ''The Structures of Everyday Life'' : vol. 2: ''The Wheels of Commerce'' : vol. 3: ''The Perspective of the World'' *''On History'' (1980; English translation of ''Ecrits sur l'Histoire'' by Siân Reynolds) *''La Dynamique du Capitalisme'' (1985) *''L'Identité de la France'' (1986) *''The Identity of France'' (1988–1990) : vol. 1: ''History and Environment'' : vol. 2: ''People and Production'' *''Ecrits sur l'Histoire II'' (1990) *''Out of Italy, 1450–1650'' (1991) *''A History of Civilizations'' (1995) *''Les mémoires de la Méditerranée'' (1998) *''The Mediterranean in the Ancient World'' (UK) and ''Memories of the Mediterranean'' (USA; both 2001; English translation of ''Les mémoires de la Méditerranée'' by Siân Reynolds) *''Personal Testimony'' Journal of Modern History, vol. 44, no. 4. (December 1972)

References

External links

* ttp://www.africahistory.net/braudel.htm Braudel, Colonialism and the Rise of the West
Fernand Braudel:Mediterranean studies:Annales schoolFernand Braudel CenterInstituto Fernand Braudel de Economia Mundial

* Fernand Braudel, father of the modern pop-history genre - b
blaqswans.org
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Braudel, Fernand 1902 births 1985 deaths 20th-century French historians 20th-century French male writers 20th-century French people Binghamton University buildings Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Collège de France faculty Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy Economic historians French anti-capitalists French historians of philosophy French male non-fiction writers French military personnel of World War II French prisoners of war in World War II Historians of France Theoretical historians Lycée Condorcet teachers Lycée Henri-IV teachers Members of the Académie Française People from Meuse (department) Theorists on Western civilization University of Paris faculty University of São Paulo faculty World system scholars Foreign members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Biography

''La Méditerranée''

Capitalism

''L'Identité de la France''

Historiography

Awards and honors

Honorary degrees

Orders of Merit

Learned societies

Legacy

Main publications

See also

References

Further reading

External links