ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the rise of Iberian empires as a global knowledge society during the early modern period, focusing on the production and circulation of nautical rutters. Despite having lower urbanization and less intellectual freedom than other European regions, Portugal and Spain fostered multicultural empires through extensive knowledge networks. The chapter analyzes how knowledge, particularly in navigation and cartography, drove expansion. Nautical rutters, as both technical documents and literary works, shaped maritime knowledge dissemination. Key works like Pero Magalhães de Gândavo’s Tratado da Terra do Brasil (1569) and André Donelha’s Descrição dos Rios da Serra Leoa (1625) illustrate how rutters served as epistemic scaffolds, integrating diverse knowledge fields and linking local insights to global strategies.
