How Global Was Early Modern Iberian Imperium?

When Philip II of Spain added Portugal and its overseas territories to his already sprawling possessions in 1580, he laid claim to what contemporary observers and modern historians alike have described as the world’s first global empire. At the same time as we recognize the vast dimensions of Philip’s composite imperium, however, it is also worth asking to what extent he – or any other early modern European monarch, for that matter – actually exercised effective control over the dominions he claimed. How far did imperial sovereignty extend? In what ways was it circumscribed?

In this paper, I will trace the rhetorical invocations of humanists, jurists, and theologians in emphasizing the globality of Habsburg imperium, especially in the early years of Iberian union. Then, drawing on case studies of Southeast Africa, the Philippines, and the Río de la Plata, I will examine the limits of Iberian crown rule on three of the empires’ remote fringes where the presence of royal officials and institutions was minimal, transient, or in some cases nonexistent. I will demonstrate how jurisdictional layering, physical distance, and the power of indigenous groups and autonomous settlers created situations in which, beyond official centers of colonial authority, the crown’s effective sovereignty was diffuse, largely indirect, and constantly fluctuating in its geography. My aim is to provide a sharper view of the limits of Spanish and Portuguese imperium at the height of Iberian global hegemony in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.