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FOUR The Organization of Oceanic Empires The Iberian World in the Habsburg Period Carla Rahn Phillips G lobalization arguably began, not with the voyages of Columbus, but with the treaties that claimed to divide the non-European world into Portuguese and Spanish spheres of influence, including exclusive seaborne channels of exploration and communication. In the early sixteenth century both Iberian powers established commercial and governmental outposts in the Americas in accordance with those treaties and reached agreement regarding spheres of influence in Asia. Nonetheless, the rulers of Portugal and Spain each saw their interests as spanning the whole globe. By the late sixteenth century various other European powers challenged the monopolies claimed by the Iberian states, which were ruled by the same Habsburg monarchs from  to . Although the empires of Portugal and Spain officially remained separate during the joint monarchy, royal officials made policies for defense, trade, and shipping for both empires in the same global context, relying on the tenuous and problematical means of transoceanic exchanges. Ordinary citizens in Portugal, Spain, and their overseas empires had to function in a global context as well, even as they made personal decisions based largely on local concerns. How did they manage that, and how did they regard their relationship with their kinfolk and compatriots across the seas? By examining such issues, and by treating Portugal, Spain, and their overseas empires together during the Habsburg period, we can gain a clearer sense of what early globalization meant to the Europeans who lived it. Each of the Iberian empires encompassed a collection of territories and peoples all over the globe, posing extraordinary difficulties for government organization, yet each empire was remarkably successful in terms of longevity and cultural cohesion. The Portuguese empire in Brazil lasted well into the nineteenth century, and a few enclaves in Asia lasted well into the twentieth century. The Spanish empire in the Americas held together politically for more than  years; in the early nineteenth century it encompassed over twelve million square miles and more than fifteen million people. Scattered 71 72 Carla Rahn Phillips remnants of Spanish colonies in the Americas and Asia lasted until . What explains that longevity and cultural cohesion? The answer, it seems to me, relates to the intricate fabric of public and private traditions and institutions that Iberians carried with them overseas. One essential Spanish tradition was the bureaucratic structure of advisory , thematic, and territorial councils, linked to permanent and ad-hoc committees (juntas) within the government.¹ Evolving from medieval councils in both Castile and Aragon, the structure accommodated the Italian territories linked to Aragon, the American territories claimed by Castile, and— from  to —Portugal and its empire. In other words, the administration of overseas territories was fully integrated into Habsburg bureaucratic structures. Councils and committees met regularly to discuss matters within their purview and communicated with one another and with the monarch through written consultations. During the dual monarchy that linked Spain and Portugal, their imperial administrations remained largely separate bodies , but they were joined to the same head, so to speak, for sharing information and coordinating action. For personnel, the structure as a whole drew upon a pool of highly trained and dedicated professional bureaucrats. Among other things, the Habsburg bureaucratic structure made it possible to organize fleets for worldwide commerce and defense—an immense task. For the late sixteenth century I have estimated that several hundred vessels and more than forty thousand men sailed on Spain’s commercial and military fleets to Spanish America each year.² For military use the Habsburg monarchs embargoed and leased the services of privately owned ships and their crews to supplement the small number of ships owned by the crown— in effect using them as a reserve arsenal and source of manpower. The Portuguese fleets to India and Brazil employed far fewer ships and men, but the maritime population was nonetheless prominent in a total of only one million to one-and-a-half million Portuguese.³ The government had to resort to various expedients to provide ships’ crews and colonists for the Portuguese empire in a way that did not depopulate the metropolis.⁴ With so many Spaniards and Portuguese and their families involved in transoceanic trade and defense, I would argue that citizens in the home countries and the empires could feel that they were part of the same mental, social, and emotional space, even though they were thousands of miles apart. I will return to this point later. The...

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