Ana Struillou is an early modern historian, with a particular interest in mobility and the transmission of material culture between Mediterranean Europe (especially Spain), its colonial territories, and North Africa in the pre-modern period.

Before coming to KCL, Ana held an SNSF Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Zurich and a Past and Present Fellowship at the Institute of Historical Research (London).

She is currently working on her first book project, derived from her doctorate (European University Institute, 2023), which examines the material culture of different groups of Southern European and North African travellers across the Western Mediterranean from the early 16th until the mid-17th century. She has published on Mediterranean and Spanish history, and her work has appeared in the Mediterranean Historical Review, Past & Present, Journal of Early Modern History, among other fora.

Research interests and PhD supervision

Mobility
Material culture
Iberian Worlds
North Africa

Ana is always keen to hear from students interested in the Iberian World generally, as well as Christian-Muslim relations in the early modern period.

Teaching

Ana teaches a range of early modern history courses in the Department, including World History: Power and Inequality (1500-1900) and Toleration and Human Rights in Europe (1600-1900) (2025-2026).

Expertise and public engagement 

Aside from appearances in podcasts and public history festivals, Ana is a regular contributor to French Public History Magazine L'Histoire.

Selected publications

‘What happened to the Sultan’s Things? Investigating Material Disappearance Across and Beyond the Early Modern Mediterranean’ [In print, forthcoming at Renaissance Quarterly].

‘L’ombre du voyageur. Pratiques scripturaires itinérantes et mobilité transméditerranéenne (1570-1680)’ [In print, forthcoming at the Revue d’histoire moderne & contemporaine].

‘Mobility, Material Culture, and the Archive: A View from the Mediterranean’, Journal of Early Modern History, vol. 29, n°4 (2025): 344-353. DOI: 10.1163/15700658-12342775.

‘Immobility’, Introduction to a virtual issue co-authored with Malika Zehni and Lamin Mahneh, Past & Present, vol. 268, n°1 (2025): 286-319. DOI: 10.1093/pastj/gtaf014.

‘Insights From a Travel Journal: Travel Knowledge in the Late Sixteenth Century Mediterranean’, Mediterranean Historical Review, vol. 38, n°1 (2023): 71-92. DOI: 10.1080/09518967.2023.2192159.