3. Authorities & decisions: European Overseas Empires & Extraction

Decision-makers, laws and consequences

The Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella sponsored Columbus’s 1492 voyage. The Crown of Castile authorized colonial institutions, while encomienda grantees demanded Indigenous labor and tribute. Charles V promulgated the New Laws of 1542 to restrict Indigenous enslavement and some hereditary encomienda rights.

Enforcement was uneven and often resisted by colonists. Portuguese and later British, French and Dutch rulers established different systems of settlement, commerce, plantation slavery and coercive labor.

Institutional consequences

The authorities identified above acted within institutions that determined who could govern, enforce decisions and challenge official power. The resulting changes to political participation, legal status, military control or property administration are part of the historical record of this specific event, rather than evidence that every later government followed the same path.