ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationship between cosmographic knowledge and the construction and maintenance of the early modern Spanish overseas empire. The author begins with the premise that cosmography in the Iberian context refers to a type of knowledge that encompasses a series of empirical skills and practices, such as geography, astronomy, mathematics, cartography, navigation, the construction of mathematical instruments, and even natural history. To analyze this relationship, the present chapter inspects some of the main institutions, practices, information networks, positions, communities of practitioners, and artifacts generated in the early modern period. These aspects are considered in light of the most recent areas of research on early modern epistemology, especially those stemming from the historiography of Iberian science.
