Felipe Fernández-Armesto
Encyclopedia
Felipe Fernández-Armesto (born 1950) is a British
historian
and author of several popular works of history
.
He was born in London
, his father was the Spanish
journalist
Felipe Fernández Armesto and his mother was Betty Millan de Fernandez-Armesto, a British-born journalist and co-founder and editor of The Diplomatist, the in-house journal of the diplomatic corps in London.
Felipe Fernandez-Armesto joined the history department at the University of Notre Dame
in 2009, after occupying chairs at Tufts University
and the University of London (Queen Mary College
). He had spent most of his career teaching at Oxford, 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
and the Universidad de los Andes
.
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 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 and colonized the islands along the northwest coast of Africa.
Fernández-Armesto gained media attention in 2007 for his alleged brutalising by five policemen in Atlanta, Georgia
as a result of jaywalking
.
(UK), the Premio Nacional a Investigacion of the Sociedad Geográfica Española, Soain's Premio Nacional de Gastronomia for his history of food, and the Tercentenary Medal of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and author of several popular works of history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
.
He was born in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, his father was the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
Felipe Fernández Armesto and his mother was Betty Millan de Fernandez-Armesto, a British-born journalist and co-founder and editor of The Diplomatist, the in-house journal of the diplomatic corps in London.
Felipe Fernandez-Armesto joined the history department at the University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
in 2009, after occupying chairs at Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
and the University of London (Queen Mary College
Queen Mary, University of London
Queen Mary, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
). He had spent most of his career teaching at Oxford, 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
La Trobe University is a multi-campus university in Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament to become the third oldest university in the state of Victoria. The main campus of La Trobe is located in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora; two other major campuses are...
and the Universidad de los Andes
University of the Andes, Colombia
The University of the Andes , is a coeducational, nonsectarian private university located in city centre Bogotá, Colombia. Founded in 1948, the University has 9 faculties: Administration, Architecture and Design, Arts and Humanities, Sciences, Social Sciences, Law, Economics, Engineering and...
.
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 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 and colonized the islands along the northwest coast of Africa.
Fernández-Armesto gained media attention in 2007 for his alleged brutalising by five policemen in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
as a result of jaywalking
Jaywalking
Jaywalking is an informal term commonly used in North America to refer to illegal or reckless pedestrian crossing of a roadway. Examples include a pedestrian crossing between intersections without yielding to drivers and starting to cross a crosswalk at a signalized intersection without waiting...
.
Awards and honours
Among other distinctions, Fernández-Armesto has won the John Carter Brown Medal, the Caird Medal of the National Maritime MuseumNational Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom and may be the largest museum of its kind in the world. The historic buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, it also incorporates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,...
(UK), the Premio Nacional a Investigacion of the Sociedad Geográfica Española, Soain's Premio Nacional de Gastronomia for his history of food, and the Tercentenary Medal of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
- 2008: Universidad de los Andes, honorary doctorate
- 2007: World History Association Book PrizeWorld History Association Book PrizeWorld History Association Book Prize is an annual book prize given by the World History Association since 1999. It "recognizes outstanding contributions to the field of world history"...
, Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration
Selected works
- The Spanish Armada (1990)
- Millennium: A History of Our Last Thousand Years (1995)
- Reformation: Christianity & the World 1500 - 2000 (1996) (co-authored with Derek Wilson)
- Truth: A History and a Guide for the Perplexed (1997)
- Civilizations (2000).
- Food: A History (published as "Near a Thousand Tables" in US/Can) (2001).
- The Americas: A Hemispheric History (2003) ISBN 0375504761
- Ideas That Changed the World (2003).
- Humankind: A brief History (2004).
- Pathfinders: a Global History of Exploration (2006)
- The World: A Global History (2007).
- 1492. The Year the World Began (2009)
As editor
- A History of EnglandA History of EnglandA History of England is a series of reprints of twelve classic, magisterial volumes of different periods of English history, together constituting a continuous history from ancient Roman times to the end of the 20th century...
(1997–2002) - The Times guide to the peoples of Europe (1994)
External links
- Biography at Springerlink
- Professor Fernández-Armesto at Queen Mary.
- An interview with TMCQ: "With my usual intellectual perversity, I thought it would be interesting to have a history of the worldHistory of the worldThe history of the world or human history is the history of humanity from the earliest times to the present, in all places on Earth, beginning with the Paleolithic Era. It excludes non-human natural history and geological history, except insofar as the natural world substantially affects human lives...
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." - An interview with Spiked magazine: "I defend people's right to deny the Holocaust 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