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.

1. Global Goods in the Spanish Empire: State of the Art and Prospects for Research; Bethany Aram PART I: CULTURAL AND INTELLECTUAL CONSTRAINTS 2. The Early Modern Food Revolution: A Perspective from the Iberian Atlantic; María de los Ángeles Pérez Samper 3. The Difficult Beginnings: Columbus as a Mediator of New World Products; Consuelo Varela 4. Accommodating America to Europe: Renaissance Missionaries between the Ancient and the New World; Antonella Romano 5. America and the Hermeneutics of Nature in Renaissance Europe; María Portuondo 6. The Diffusion of Maize in Italy: From Resistance to the Peasants' Defeat; Giovanni Levi PART II: THE SOCIAL USE OF THINGS 7. Taste Transformed: Sugar, Spice and the Sixteenth-Century Hispano-Burgundian Court; Bethany Aram 8. Diet, Travel and Colonialism in the Early Modern World; Rebecca Earle 9. Asian Silk, Porcelain and Material Culture in the Definition of Mexican and Andalusian Elites, c.1565-1630; José Luis Gasch 10. Interest and Curiosity: American Products, Information, and Exotica in Tuscany; Francisco Javier Zamora Rodríguez PART III: CONNECTED AND CONTRASTING SOCIETIES 11. Mexican Cochineal and the European Demand for a Luxury Dye, 1550-1850; Carlos Marichal Salinas 12. Hispaniola's Turn to Tobacco: Products from Santo Domingo in Atlantic Commerce; Antonio Gutiérrez Escudero 13. Global trade, environmental constraints and local conflicts: The case of early modern Hispaniola; Igor Pérez Tostado 14. The Resilience and Boomerang Effects of Chocolate: A Product's Globalization and Commodification; Irene Fattacciu 15. Globalization, Iberian Empires and Cross-Cultural Consumption in a World Context, c. 1400-1700; Bartolomé Yun-Casalilla Selected Bibliography

“Global Goods presents us with a fascinating array of case studies that add valuable details and perspectives to our understanding of Spain’s involvement in the first global age. … Global Goods, in other words, does more than just rehash Spain’s involvement in early globalization, it also helps to explain often forgotten aspects of how, why, and to what effect that involvement occurred.” (Journal of Jesuit Studies, booksandjournals.brillonline.com, Vol. 3 (3), June, 2016)“The chapters assembled in Global Goods and the Spanish Empire represent a significant contribution to a number of fields of inquiry. Scholars interested in the history of globalization, colonialism, consumption, material culture, and many other issues will find that this book rewards their attention. It is certainly appropriate for postgraduate students, but it should be accessible to advanced undergraduates as well.” (Stephen Webre, International Journal of Maritime History, Vol. 7 (4), November, 2015)