Alper Yavuz

Biography

His field of study, shaped around the history of the Age of Discovery, focuses particularly on the overseas expansion of the Portuguese and the Spanish during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The primary subjects of his research include Portuguese colonization in Africa, Brazil, and India; Spanish colonization in Central and South America; the discovery of the Americas; the maritime, cartographic, and geographical knowledge of the period; the biological, sociological, economic, ethnic, and cultural exchanges between the Old and New Worlds; and the civilizations of Mesoamerica.

His master’s thesis, "The Portuguese in the First Century of the Age of Discovery (1415–1499)" is significant as the first and only thesis written in Turkey to examine the emergence of the Age of Discovery and the developmental phases of Portugal’s overseas expansion during its first century. His articles reviewing notable books written in his field have been published in peer-reviewed academic journals. He also studied Prehistory at Istanbul University for a period.