Longue durée

Longue durée ( long duration dt ) denotes a historiographical term of art, the science of history on a new structuralist basis. This term has been coined by Fernand Braudel of the Annales school. In his three -volume work, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II of 1949 he characterizes the space in relation to the new time.

Fernand Braudel distinguishes three levels of time in history and has therefore each associated with a band one time level:

• The long duration ( longue durée ) refers to the slow development of social, political and economic structures and geographical conditions. With the coining of the term, an appeal is simultaneously connected to look at the history of no more than individual data, but as a great whole. As examples, the rule of the Pharaohs in Egypt are called, which lasted for about 3300 years, also feudalism, since he was the dominant form of economy throughout the Middle Ages, or the fact that Barcelona is located on the sea. The level longue durée is considered as the most important of the three levels, because it provides the conditions and explanations for the other.

• The mean duration, moyenne durée, refers to economic cycles, that is, primarily to economic fluctuations. Developments in the temporal sequence taking place at a faster change than the spatial requirements. The Golden Age of the Netherlands or the global economic crisis are examples of economic cycles that took place in a time frame of several years or decades. A longer rhythm have the Kondratieff cycles on the history of industrialized societies.

• The événement (German Event ) usually describes political events that are limited by short duration and locally. This level is also called courte durée, short duration. These are extraordinary events and changing daily events such as the enactment of laws and government changes which occur in the time frame of weeks, days or even hours to call. This histoire événementielle was previously known as the classic event history. However, this level is generally despised by the Annales historians as contingent.