IN the sixteenth century, Iberian colonists went across three continents, dealt with exotic communities, and tried in several ways to ensure control over natives and exploit conquered territories. Sometimes, however, these practices were antagonistic either to the national mercantile network or to the metropolitan state apparatus. Before the Century of Discoveries came to an end, metropolitan powers resumed European expansion in order to colonize their own colonists.

“Among remote people they built the new kingdom they so much exalted,” Camões wrote in the “Lusíadas.” But how did the overseas “new kingdom” relate to the European “old kingdom?”

Although slavery and coerced labor allowed domination of conquered populations, they did not always entail successful colonial exploitation. These relations of production did not ensure the transformation of surplus labor wrested overseas into trade connected to metropolitan networks. Colonial surplus might be consumed by colonists or traded outside areas under the control of metropolitan powers. Therefore, the establishment of slavery and coerced labor was not a sufficient condition to implement dependent economies in overseas territories occupied by Portugal and Spain.

Moreover, even though the economic surplus of overseas territories was incorporated into the metropolitan network, Iberian expansion did not necessarily lead to the reinforcement of monarchic authority. New power relations emerged inside metropolitan states and conquered territories as mercantile zones expanded and merchants improved their political influence, complicating the ruling of European territorial monarchies.