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This interview with the Argentine historian Darío G. Barriera aims to review the historiographical framework in which the political history of the Catholic Monarchy has developed since the 1990s in the context of Spanish America. The main elements of said framework are the links developed between history and history of law with the idea of jurisdictional power as well as the adaptability of norms and their flexible uses by actors versed in casuistry. This interview provides an opportunity to review the most notable historians and works that have marked Darío G. Barriera between Europe and the Americas.

Shortly after the «Discovery of America», the Catholic Kings issued a ban for foreigners to cross the Atlantic and settle in the West Indies. In this composite monarchy, the definition of «naturaleza» was not easy and, for a long time, it was not possible for foreigners to obtain citizenship by integration. In 1591, Felipe II asked the Hispano-American authorities to expel foreigners, while allowing them, at the same time, to stay given the payment of a fee (the «composición»). From 1591 to 1625 several campaigns of expulsion and «composición» were undertaken in the «audiencias». The discourse of the authorities changed from a recognition of foreign qualifications to xenophobia. Foreign control increased around 1615 and deportations were carried out.