ABSTRACT
The Ibero-American Enlightenment’s commitment to encyclopedism, networked knowledge, and knowledge transfer is addressed in this chapter, from Benito Feijoo’s Teatro critico universal (1726) to Antonio de Sancha’s Encyclopedia metódica (1788–1794). Eschewing the many assumptions about Spain’s interest in and ability to engage in long-term, multi-volume encyclopedic projects over the eighteenth century, this contribution offers, instead, a vibrant culture of critically oriented compilations that presented knowledge as Ibero-American in response to other national encyclopedic traditions. This chapter examines a Spanish intellectual class that valued encyclopedism as a tool capable of assessing the empire’s domestic and global status while laying the groundwork for education, reform, and renewal, in concert with patriotic societies and the periodical press.
