Council of the Indies for Spanish, Spanish American, and European history, are housed in Seville. Council of the Indies The Council of the Indies; officially, the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies (, ), was the most important administrative organ of the Spanish Empire for the Americas and the Philippines. The crown held absolute power over the Indies and the Council of the Indies was the administrative and advisory body for those overseas realms. It was established in 1524 by Charles V of Spain to administer "the Indies," Spain's name for its territories. Such an administrative entity, on the conciliar model of the
East Indies Station the East Indies and the China Station were a single command known as the East Indies and China Station. The East Indies Station, established in 1865, covered the Indian Ocean (excluding the waters around the Dutch East Indies, South Africa and Australia) and included the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. These responsibilities did not imply territorial claims but rather that the navy would actively protect British trading interests. From 1913 the station was renamed the Egypt and East Indies Station until 1918. The East Indies Station had bases at Colombo, Trincomalee, Bombay, Basra and Aden. In response to increased