EUROPE AND THE ATLANTIC WORLD

Five research essays reveal the changes at all levels experienced as a result of the arrival of the Castilians in America. At this point, in the minds of the Castilian crown, conquest meant settlement, and thus laws and exemptions were enacted to achieve the transfer of peoples and customs from one side of the Atlantic to the other. Secondly, the text addresses the paradigm shift in the Earth's physiognomy, necessitating a new cartography. Initially carried out by cosmographers who crossed the ocean on various organized expeditions, the fashion for maps later generated a substantial business in some printing houses, such as Plantin's. After these fruitful experiences at the beginning of the 19th century, this Europe-America brotherhood was broken, initiating a long process of independence that lasted until the end of the century. This conclusion gives way to the fourth essay, which reflects on the relationship between history and literature. Finally, analyzed from the present, what was once united vibrated within the cultural language of the West, and this leads us to ask ourselves: What is the West? And why should we defend it?