This volume offers a richly layered reinterpretation of Atlantic history by shifting focus from linear routes of exploration to the dynamic circulation of objects, ideas, texts, and perceptions between the 16th and 18th centuries. Through case studies ranging from the global trade of glass beads and botanical transfers like the palm tree, to the movement of printed materials, letters, and scientific knowledge, the book reconstructs the Atlantic as a space of constant exchange shaped by diverse actors, including Indigenous leaders, missionaries, naturalists, and European scholars. It highlights how material culture, epistolary dialogues, travel journals, and visual representations contributed to the construction of knowledge and alterity across continents, while also revealing the networks—familial, commercial, and intellectual—that underpinned these processes. By examining both sensory experiences and mediated accounts of the New World, the collection ultimately proposes a more interconnected and reciprocal understanding of transoceanic encounters, emphasizing circulation, interpretation, and transformation over discovery alone.
