The notion of nationality as a statute that materialises the legal connection between an individual, a political community, and the state as its institutional expression, is associated with two legal categories of critical importance in early modern Spain and Spanish America: vecindad (the status of being a vecino, which designated local citizenship) and naturaleza (which referenced being natural or native-born to a place). In her study on Defining Nations, Tamar HerzogHerzog, Tamar brought to light the social logics that animated these two categories of belonging: the vecindad refers to integration in a local community; naturaleza encompasses a broader belonging. Herzog illustrates how, over more than three centuries, the meaning of these two categories varied in Spain and in America.