Maritime crossroads: the knowledge pursuits of María de Betancourt (Tenerife, 1758 - 1824) and Joana de Vigo (Menorca, 1779 - 1855)

This article explores the biographies of two gentlewomen, María de Betancourt (1758–1824)and Joana de Vigo (1779–1855), who lived respectively in Tenerife and Menorca, two crucialnodes in the scientific, commercial and military global networks of the late eighteenthcentury. Some of their scientific and literary contributions are mapped, paying particularattention to how they became active in contemporaneous learned networks. It is arguedthat the peculiar, intellectually rich microcosms of the islands shaped these women’s livesin ways that enabled them to enter learned circles, either real or imaginary, and from avery modest site to contribute to the global circulation of ideas, goods and peoples