Introducción: La movilidad escalonada en el Mundo Hispano de la Edad Moderna

Staggered mobility was everywhere in the early modern Spanish world. Yet, scholars have not systematically studied individuals whose lives were marked by repeated instances of relocation interspersed with more or less prolonged periods of residence in one place. Drawing on insights from recent studies of contemporary migration, the articles in this special section use longitudinal approaches to demonstrate how this kind of mobility contributed to the construction of imperial spaces, the implementation of reforms, the development of migration patterns and petitioning practices, and the governance of the Spanish Monarchy more generally. At the same time, they explore how individuals who practised staggered mobility interpreted and deployed their experiences at different points in their lives.