War, dominion and sovereignty: South Atlantic colonial experiences and empire in the 1570s

By analysing documents and historiography, the article identifies the constitution of a unified field of colonization experiences in the South Atlantic during the 1570s. Royal authority over colonial spaces was characterized, on the one hand, by the institution of political administrative apparatus, and on the other, by intervention in the manorial relations to which native Africans and Americans were subjected. The latter created a point of compromise and dissension that marked the instability between colonial powers and European authorities, using a system of composite exploitation, characterized by complementarily between different statutes and forms of domination.