Spanish America
“Atlas des premières colonisations”, Autrement, 2013
Legal equality between Spaniards from Europe and those from America undermines the notion of domination implied by the term “colony.” In the 16th century, contemporaries did not refer to colonization but to “población” and used terms like “reinos” (kingdoms), “dominios” (domains), or “provincias” (provinces) for these territories, which were not subject to any specific subordination.Integrated into the Crown of Castile by the end of the 15th century, conquests were organized into viceroyalties (New Spain and Peru from the 16th century, then New Granada and Río de la Plata in the 18th century). The general captaincies, theoretically subordinate, were in fact very autonomous.The central aspect of colonization was the founding of cities, centers of power and commerce, but also vital sites of a new Spanish-speaking and Catholic civilization, deeply ethnically diverse. Starting from Columbus’s second voyage, Spaniards initiated a process of permanent settlement in the Antilles, which then extended to the continent: within two centuries, over half a million Spaniards lived in America.From 1570, inhabitants fell under distinct socio-political entities, the “República de españoles” and the “República de indios,” each with its own organization, notably legal, corresponding to the ideal of separation of the two main groups—although in practice, the two often intertwined. This organizational structure allowed indigenous people to preserve some of their customs and the authority of their caciques. The capacity of the latter to act and negotiate to defend specific rights thus underscores the transactional dimension of Spanish colonization and its adaptation to existing structures.Juan de Solórzano y Pereyra’s 1681 work, “Recopilación de leyes de los reinos de las Indias,” compiled 6,385 laws enacted for the West Indies, evidence of the existence of legislative and jurisdictional uniqueness.