Conference by Henry Laurens, professor at the College of France.

The term ‘minorities’ is absent from the political language of 19th century Europe. It only appeared late in the administrative practice of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and especially on the eve of the 1914 war in the context of the Balkan wars. Its use became widespread from 1917 onwards in the context of the definition of the right of peoples to self-determination. From then on, it was used in the 1919 treaties governing European issues. In the same year, it was used for the Arab East, thereby transforming the status of communities that had existed for centuries. Henry Laurens holds the Chair of Contemporary History of the Arab World at the College of France. He authored over twenty reference books, including L’expédition d’Égypte (1798-1801) Paris, ed. Armand Colin, 1989 (reissue by Le Seuil in 1997)^, La Question de Palestine, ed. Fayard, 1999-2015, 5 volumes, Histoire du monde arabe contemporain, Paris, ed. Fayard/College of France, 2004, Les crises d’Orient, ed. Fayard, 2017-2019, 2 tomes.