Cosmopolitanism

The term “cosmopolitan” has its etymological roots in the ancient Greek words for cosmos (κόσμος) and polis (πόλις) and it was used to describe interest in and tolerance for different peoples and cultures outside the boundaries of one’s own community. Universal citizenship, universal human rights, and communication are at the foundation of the idea of cosmopolitanism as it developed and emerged in different cultural and historical contexts throughout the centuries. In the early modern stages of Atlantic history, the emergence of cosmopolitanism is interconnected with the explorations and colonial expansionist projects. Different uses of the idea of cosmopolitanism emerged in conjunction with the increased circulation of people, ideas, and goods related to western European countries’ colonial ventures. The exchanges that these encounters forced among people from different places and cultural origins created the foundations for the emergence of ideas connected to the concept of cosmopolitanism. In this context, the transnational and universalist appeal of the cosmopolitan not only accompanied empire building, but also formed the basis of the rhetoric that resisted imperial expansion. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the idea of cosmopolitanism was at times invoked to resist the subjugation of people and the repression of cultures that colonialism caused. For example, the early modern Spanish theologians Bartolome de las Casas, Francisco Suarez, and Francisco de Vitoria invoked the cosmopolitan idea of universal natural law to respond to critique the contemporary colonial missions in the Americas and the slaughter of native people. During the same period, however, the notion of the cosmopolitan was also used to promote colonial expansion and the domination of people in the subjugated countries. This was the case for the English John Dee, who described Great Britain’s colonial enterprises in terms that painted the conquest of countries and the domination of people as the achievement of a mission to bring them a civilizing and cosmopolitan government. The use of cosmopolitanism to explain and discuss, to understand and talk about differences among people and their way of life are common features of the writings from the early explorations to the end of the eighteenth century. Studies of cosmopolitanism develop across different disciplines and time periods. The focus of this entry will be primarily on texts that are directly treating the way cosmopolitanism manifested itself during the period of Western colonial expansion in the Atlantic world.