Republics of difference : religious and racial self governance in the Spanish Atlantic world Spanish monarchs recognized the jurisdictions of many self governing corporate groups including Jews and Muslims on the peninsula indigenous peoples in their American colonies and enslaved and free people of African descent across the empire. Republics of Difference examines fifteenth century Seville and sixteenth and seventeenth century Lima to show how religiously and racially based self governance functioned in a society with many kinds of law what effects it had on communities and why it mattered. By comparing these minoritized communities on both sides of the Spanish Atlantic world this study offers a new understanding of the distinct standings of those communities in their urban settings. Drawing on legal and commercial records from late medieval Spain and colonial Latin America Karen B. Graubart paints insightful portraits of residents everyday lives to underscore the discriminatory barriers as well as the occupational structures social hierarchies and networks in which they flourished. In doing so she demonstrates the limits benefits and dangers of living under ones own law in the Spanish empire including the ways self governance enabled some communities to protect their practices and cultures over time. Acknowledgments Glossary Introduction Part I: Space 1 Religious Republics in Seville 1248 1502 2 Limas Indian Republics 1532 1650 Part II: Jurisdiction 3 Institutionalizing Legal Difference in Castile 4 Aljama or the Republic of Difference 5 Caciques and Local Governance in the Andes 6 Pueblos de indios: Entangled Authority in the Lima Valley Part III: Order and Disorder 7 The Specters of Black Self Governance 8 Walls and Law in Lima and Its Cercado Conclusion Glossary Notes Bibliography Index