Captaincy

A captaincy (Spanish: capitanía [kapitaˈni.a], Portuguese: capitania [kɐpitɐˈni.ɐ], Croatian: kapetanija) is a historical administrative division of the former Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires. It was instituted as a method of organization, directly associated with the home-rule administrations of medieval feudal governments in which the monarch delimited territories for colonization that were administered by men of confidence.

The same term was or is used in some other countries, such as Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Ottoman Empire, Slovakia or Austria.