Global goods and the Spanish Empire, 1492 - 1824: circulation, resistance and diversity

Abstract

"Drawing upon economic history, cultural studies, intellectual history and the history of science and medicine, this collection of case studies examines the transatlantic transfer and transformation of goods and ideas, with particular emphasis on their reception in Europe. It critiques and enriches Atlantic history and the history of consumption by highlighting a degree of resistance to unfamiliar goods and information as well as the asymmetrical and violent nature of many types of exchange. It considers agents who forged networks and relations within and beyond the Spanish Empire, including Jesuit missionaries, Sephardic merchants, African laborers and farmers from Oaxaca to Santo Domingo to the Piedmont. While uniting increasingly homogenous and connected societies, the expansion of European horizons also generated diverse interests and divergent material cultures"--