Biography

Francisco Bethencourt is Charles Boxer Professor of History in the Department of History, King's College London. He graduated from the Lisbon University, got an MA from the New University of Lisbon and did his PhD in the European University Institute, Florence, Italy. He is a former director of the National Library of Portugal (1996-1998), and of the Gulbenkian Cultural Centre in Paris (1999-2004). His research interests include History of Racism in the Atlantic World; Portuguese Identity; History of the Portuguese-speaking world; Comparative History of the European Expansion; History of the Inquisition (Portugal, Spain, Italy and Iberian colonies). From his extensive list of publications, it is worth highlighting the organization of the books: A História da Expansão Portuguesa, co-organized with Kirti Chaudhuri, 5 vols (1998, Círculo de Leitores); Frontières religieuses. Rejets et passages, dissimulations et contrebande spirituelle (Presses de la Sorbonne, 2008); and L'empire portugais face aux autres empires, organized with Luiz Felipe Alencastro (Maisonneuve et Larose, 2008).