In 1969, he entered the École Nationale des Chartes and prepared a thesis on sixteenth-century Flanders under the direction of Pierre Goubert.

[3] Gruzinski is interested in the colonisation of the Americas and Asia, especially the colonial experiences like those cross-cultural areas, birth of hybrid spaces and first manifestations of globalisation.

With Carmen Bernand, he published De l’idolâtrie : Une archéologie des sciences religieuses and two volumes of Histoire du Nouveau Monde.

He is the author of Le destin brisé de l’empire aztèque, a richly illustrated pocket book from the collection “Découvertes Gallimard”, which has been translated into nine languages, including English.

In 2004, he was curator of the exhibition “Planète Métisse” at the Musée du quai Branly.