Longue durée
Longue durée is a concept from historical analysis that emphasizes long-term structures and processes over short-term events. It suggests that to understand history, we should look at deep, enduring factors like geography, culture, and social institutions that shape societies over centuries or even millennia, rather than just focusing on individual events or leaders. This approach helps to reveal how patterns of human behavior and social organization evolve and remain consistent over time, providing a broader context for understanding historical changes and continuities.
Additional Insights
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Longue Durée, a concept from the historian Fernand Braudel, refers to the long-term social, economic, and environmental structures that shape history. Rather than focusing solely on events and personalities, Longue Durée emphasizes understanding the slow-moving forces that persist across centuries, influencing cultures and societies over time. It suggests that true historical change often occurs gradually rather than through dramatic events. This approach helps historians and scholars analyze the deeper trends and patterns that define human experience beyond the immediate and the transient.