Andrew Fitzmaurice

Professor Andrew Fitzmaurice is Professor of History in the Department of History, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney. He completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge and spent many years teaching and researching at the University of Sydney, where he made significant contributions to intellectual history and the history of political thought. His academic career features extensive work on the intellectual foundations of empire and colonization.

Fitzmaurice's research specializations center on the ideologies of European empires, early modern English colonization of America, justifications for the appropriation of sovereignty and property in the non-European world from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries, and the political thought of non-state entities such as chartered companies. Key publications include his books Humanism and America: An Intellectual History of English Colonisation, 1500–1625 (Cambridge University Press, 2003; 258 citations), Sovereignty, Property and Empire, 1500–2000 (Cambridge University Press, 2014; 382 citations), and King Leopold's Ghostwriter: The Creation of Persons and States in the Nineteenth Century (Princeton University Press, 2021). He co-edited Shakespeare and Early Modern Political Thought (Cambridge University Press, 2009) and guest-edited a special issue of Renaissance Studies on the intellectual history of early modern empire (2012). Highly cited articles encompass 'The Genealogy of Terra Nullius' (Australian Historical Studies, 2007; 300 citations), 'Liberalism and Empire in Nineteenth-Century International Law' (American Historical Review, 2012; 90 citations), 'The Commercial Ideology of Colonization in Jacobean England' (William and Mary Quarterly, 2007; 52 citations), and 'Context in the History of International Law' (Journal of the History of International Law, 2018; 58 citations). In 2019, he was elected Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (FASSA) for distinguished contributions to intellectual history and society. His scholarship has profoundly influenced studies in political thought, international law, and empire through rigorous analysis and publications in leading academic journals and volumes.

Professional Email: andrew.fitzmaurice@sydney.edu.au