Introduction

The objective of this work is to present the different facets of the Iberian world during the period between the fifteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth. It aims to present this universe in all its diversity and complexity, to analyse in depth a space marked by many affinities and similarities, but also by innumerable differences, tensions, exclusions, and conflicts. In other words, the term Iberian world, which appears in the title of this volume, does not refer to a socially homogenous, harmonious, or conflict-free space. On the contrary, it is meant to stand in for the plurality of the peoples of the Iberian peninsula, a region characterised by considerable social, cultural, ethnic, jurisdictional, and political diversity. As the chapters of this volume demonstrate, this diversity persisted, in changing configurations, throughout the period analysed here. It partly explains the similar trajectories and common preoccupations of Iberian societies and polities, but also the abundant rejections, the ubiquity of intolerance, and the recurrent bouts of violence.