Fernand Braudel

Born Aug. 24, 1902, in Lunéville, Meuse Department. French historian.

Braudel became director of the French Center for Historical Studies in 1948, professor at the Collège de France in 1949, and head of the Sixth Section (Economic and Social Sciences) at the Practical School of Higher Studies (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes) in 1956. Braudel is editor of the journal Annales: Economies, Sociétés, Civilisations, which is very influential among Western European historians. His principal works are on the social and economic history of Western Europe in the 16th through the 18th century. The development of trade and monetary circulation are described in these books in particular detail. Braudel’s works also pay a great deal of attention to the influence of the geographical environment on social processes.