T<scp>he</scp>T<scp>wo, the</scp>O<scp>ne, the</scp>M<scp>any, the</scp>N<scp>one</scp>:<i>Rethinking the Republics of Spaniards and Indians in the Sixteenth-Century Spanish Indies</i>

Abstract For a half-century, the historiography on Spanish Habsburg rule suggested that crown envisioned Indies society as best divided into two segregated sociolegal groups: republic of Spaniards and Indians. This model was popularized by eminent mid twentieth century Swedish historian Magnus Mörner has since become foundational concept in field. However, using extensive archival evidence, this article suggests Thesis Two Republics is flawed. Historicizing sixteenth-century uses republic, it finds contemporaries conceived complex social order which many political communities such municipalities groups petitioners could overlap within larger meta-republics, Christian faith-republic. It then turns to subjects’ republics, noting conceptual duality appeared rarely petitions officials, commoners, Indians, Afro-descendants, mestizos, also rare royal viceregal legislation. Moreover, binary most often served suggest Spaniards’ Indians’ common ground. The reflects other approaches understanding Indies’ Spanish-Indian binary, place non-Spanish, non-Indian vassals republic-thinking, staggering complexity laws, categories, interactions.