Felipe Fernández-Armesto
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Felipe Fernández-Armesto (born 1950) is a British professor of
history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
and author of several popular works, notably on
cultural Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
and environmental history.


Life and career

He was born in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
; his father was the Spanish
journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
Felipe Fernández Armesto (who wrote using the pseudonym ) and his mother was Betty Millan, a British-born journalist and co-founder (with Remy Hefter, in 1947) and editor of '' The Diplomatist'' (whose current title is ''Diplomat''), the in-house journal of the
diplomatic corps The diplomatic corps () is the collective body of foreign diplomats accredited to a particular country or body. The diplomatic corps may, in certain contexts, refer to the collection of accredited heads of mission ( ambassadors, high commis ...
in London. Felipe Fernandez-Armesto joined the history department at the
University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...
in 2009, after occupying chairs at
Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...
and at Queen Mary College,
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
. He had spent most of his career teaching at
Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
, where he was an undergraduate and doctoral student. He has had visiting appointments at many universities and research institutes in Europe and the Americas and has honorary doctorates from
La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 1 ...
and the University of the Andes, Colombia. He began his teaching career at
Charterhouse School Charterhouse is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Godalming, Surrey, England. Founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charter ...
in
Godalming Godalming ( ) is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settl ...
,
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
. In 1982 he published ''The Canary Islands after the Conquest: The Making of a Colonial Society in the Early Sixteenth Century'', an archival study of the
Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...
during the period of their original settlement. In 1987 he published ''Before Columbus: Exploration and Colonization from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic 1229–1492'', a study of the earliest phase of European imperialism when Europeans left the
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
and colonized the islands along the northwest coast of
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
. Fernández-Armesto gained media attention in 2007 for allegedly being a victim of
police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or Public order policing, a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, b ...
at the hands of the
Atlanta Police Department The Atlanta Police Department (APD) is a law enforcement agency in the city of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. The city shifted from its rural-based Marshal and Deputy Marshal model at the end of the 19th century. In 1873, ...
, following an incident of jaywalking.


Awards and honours

Among other distinctions, Fernández-Armesto has won the John Carter Brown Medal, the
Caird Medal The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unite ...
of the
National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unit ...
(UK), the Premio Nacional an Investigacion of the Sociedad Geográfica Española, Spain's Premio Nacional de Gastronomia for his history of food, and the Tercentenary Medal of the
Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...
. *2017: Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, "Spain's highest honour for contributors to science, scholarship, education, and the arts" *2008: Universidad de los Andes, honorary doctorate *2007: World History Association Book Prize, ''Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration''


Selected works

* ''Columbus and the Conquest of the Impossible'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1974) * ''Ferdinand and Isabella'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1975) * ''The Canary Islands after the Conquest: The Making of a Colonial Society in the Sixteenth Century'' (Oxford University Press, 1982) * ''Before Columbus: Exploration and Colonization from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, 1229–1492'' (University of Pennsylvania Pr, 1987) * ''The Spanish Armada: The Experience of War in 1588'' (Oxford University Press, 1988) * ''Columbus'' (Oxford University Press, 1991) * ''Barcelona: A Thousand Years of the City's Past'' (Trafalgar Square, 1991) * ''The Times Illustrated History of Europe'' (Times Books, 1995) * ''Millennium: A History of Our Last Thousand Years'' (Bantam Press, 1995) * ''Reformation: Christianity and the World 1500-2000'' (Bantam Press, 1996) or ''Reformations: A Radical Interpretation of Christianity and the World, 1500-2000'' (Scribner, 1997) (co-authored with Derek Wilson) * ''Truth: A History and a Guide for the Perplexed'' (Bantam Press, 1997) * ''Civilizations'' (Macmillan, 2000) or ''Civilizations: Culture, Ambition, and the Transformation of Nature'' (Free Press, 2001) * ''Food: A History'' (Macmillan, 2001) or ''Near a Thousand Tables: A History of Food'' (Free Press, 2002) * ''The Americas: A Hemispheric History'' (Modern Library, 2003) or ''The Americas: A History of A Hemisphere'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003) * ''Ideas That Changed the World'' (Dorling Kindersley, 2003) * ''Humankind: A Brief History'' (Oxford University Press, 2004) * ''Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration'' (W. W. Norton, 2006; Oxford University Press, 2007) * ''Amerigo: The Man Who Gave His Name to America'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006; Random House, 2007) * ''The World: A Brief History'' (Pearson, 2007) * ''1492. The Year the World Began'' (HarperOne, 2009; Bloomsbury, 2010) * ''Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States'' (W. W. Norton & Co., 2014) *''A Foot in the River: Why Our Lives Change–and the Limits of Evolution'' (Oxford University Press, 2015) *''The Oxford Illustrated History of the World'' (Oxford University Press, 2019) *''Out of Our Minds: What We Think and How We Came to Think It'' (Oneworld, 2019) *''Straits: Beyond the Myth of Magellan'' (Bloomsbury, 2022) *''How the Spanish Empire Was Built: A 400 Year History'' (Reaktion Books, 2024)


As editor

* '' A History of England'' (The Folio Society, 1997–2002) * ''The Times Guide to the Peoples of Europe: The Essential Handbook to Europe's Tribes'' (Times Books, 1994)


References


External links


Biography at Springerlink

An interview with TMCQ
"With my usual intellectual perversity, I thought it would be interesting to have a
Human history Human history or world history is the record of humankind from prehistory to the present. Early modern human, Modern humans evolved in Africa around 300,000 years ago and initially lived as hunter-gatherers. They Early expansions of hominin ...
written from an imaginary perspective. I am interested in shifting perspective. I do believe in objective historical reality. I do believe that the truth is out there and I’m absolutely not a relativist or a
postmodernist Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, Culture, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting ...
."
An interview with Spiked magazine
"I defend people's right to deny the
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
and to utter lies — so long as the rest of us remain aware that what they're saying is a lie."
Truth and Authenticity
Pulse Berlin * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe 1950 births Living people Writers from London Academics of Queen Mary University of London English historians Historians of Spain Tufts University faculty English people of Spanish descent Victims of police brutality Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Stateless nationalism in Europe Recipients of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise