Fernand Braudel, la civilización y la larga duración

Abstract

In this article we analyze the epistemologic bonds between the braudelian concept of longue durée and its particular interpretation of the history of civilizations. The work consists of three epigraphs: «Continuity and discontinuity of the civilizations»; «Uniformity and diversity of civilizations» (where we pay special attention to the reflections of Femand Braudel around the industrial civilization, the national civilizations or the Marxist civilization) and «The triple mechanism of the braudelian definition of civilization: the cultural area, the loan and the repulse». In the final balance the author of this article assures that the concept civilization hides itself one catoptric structure that makes the diffuse image of the historian always appear reflected and, in this sense, Braudel did not constitute an exception.