ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Fernand Braudel

Fernand Braudel was a really smart man who studied history. He was born a long time ago in France, in 1902, and lived for 85 years. He wrote lots of books about how people lived in the past, and he tried to figure out how things happened and why they happened that way.

Braudel was interested in how societies changed over time, and he looked at things like trade, politics, and people's everyday lives to try and understand how these changes happened. He also believed that history could be divided into different layers or levels, where things like everyday life happened on one level, while bigger changes like politics and wars happened on another level.

One of Braudel's most famous ideas was the concept of the "longue durée," which means the long term. He believed that history should be looked at over long periods of time, rather than just focusing on short-term events. By looking at things over the long term, he was able to see patterns and understand how things changed slowly over time.

Braudel was also interested in the idea of geography and how it played a role in shaping societies. He believed that where people lived and the environment they lived in played a big part in how they acted and what they were able to do.

In summary, Fernand Braudel was a historian who looked at how societies changed over long periods of time, and he believed that things like geography and everyday life were important factors in understanding history.