The Spanish-Habsburg realm was a global and multi-ethnic empire that included vast territories in Europe, North and South America, Asia, and the littoral of North Africa. This dissertation will explore the meaning of such an "imperial space" assembled from 1492 onwards, in the sixteenth century. I will study the roles, experiences, and thoughts of imperial administrators who traveled between the different territories and formed relationships with local peoples spanning the empire. I propose that these networks themselves bound together a political community. With language skills in Arabic and Spanish, I will investigate documentary evidence available in archives in Spain, Morocco, Tunisia, and France. My dissertation will advance the understanding of how early-modern empires incorporated diverse peoples and territories. I will contribute to scholarship in the fields of history, political science, geography, and sociology.