Sensory Iberia

Abstract

This monograph argues that the Iberian demand for goods from distant lands cannot be explained in terms of their exotic allure, since the perception of the exotic as an enticing category is shown to be a post-seventeenth-century intellectual construct. Instead, drawing on a global microhistorical approach, it demonstrates the central role that sensory experience played in shaping early modern Iberians’ desire for things from faraway regions. Built around the consumption practices of Don Juan de Borja (1533–1606), a high-ranking nobleman who served as a diplomat, statesman, and high steward during the Habsburg rule of the Iberian Peninsula, the book examines how individual sensory experiences intersected with elite social practices, the administrative structures of the monarchy, and the commercial networks of the Portuguese and Spanish empires. It situates the consumer’s engagement with objects within the broader commercial networks that connected the Portuguese and Spanish empires. Using inventories, correspondence, medical writings, literature, and other archival sources, the book analyses materials such as rhino horns, textiles, porcelain, and tropical timbers through their tactile, visual, gustatory, and olfactory qualities. By integrating material culture studies, the history of consumption, and sensory history, this study offers a new interpretation of the relationship between early modern Iberian elites and non-European things.