摘要：This article focuses on the debates that tookplace across the Iberian world on the politicalstatus of the American territories throughout the16th and 17th centuries. I begin by tracing theconstitutional place allotted to the American territoriesin each of the two Iberian polities. Subsequently,I demonstrate that the political statusinitially ascribed to the so-called Indies soon becamea matter of discussion. At the center of theanalysis are the exchanges between institutions inMadrid and Lisbon, on the one hand, and Creolegroups in Spanish and Portuguese America, on theother. I focus on the debates generated by the twofollowing topics: first, the rank of the representativeassemblies formed in the Asian and Americanterritories under the rule of the two Iberian polities,and second, the participation of American andAsian representatives in the parliaments of Castileand Portugal. This article explores the constitutionalimplications of these debates.
