The project is subdivided into four domains of human experience in which the process of cultural exchange occurred most extensively and intensively between 1400 and 1700. The first, on religion, investigates the area which incorporated the largest clusters of cultural values for most Europeans : it tells us where these values were concentrated conceptually. The second, on cities, explores the places where they were most concentrated spatially. The third, on information and communication, examines the means through which exchange occurred. The fourth, exploring the exchange of objects and styles within and between social groups, attempts to grasp some of the ways early modern Europeans experienced it. We are therefore trying to answer some basic questions of what, where, how and who were involved in these processes of cultural exchange.
1. Religion, cultural differentiation and cultural identities
