1493: Inter Caetera Bull issued
On May 4, 1493, Pope Alexander VI granted King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain exclusive rights to claim territory in the Americas by issuing the Inter Caetera, a Papal Bull. An official edict of the Pope, the Bull demarcated a line about 320 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands and gave Spain the exclusive right to land everywhere west of that line. This arrangement was later renegotiated in the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, which moved the demarcated line west 1,185 miles and allowed Portugal to claim the coast of Brazil. Invoking the “authority of Almighty God”, the Papal Bull granted Spain “full and free power, authority, and jurisdiction of every kind” within the land claimed. The Pope’s purpose was ostensibly to convert the native people to Christianity, but in practice, the Bull also legitimized the enslavement of the indigenous population. The Papal Bull also established the “Doctrine of Discovery,” which gave European powers dominion over their claims in the New World. According to this Doctrine, native people could occupy the land on which they lived, but only as subordinates of the European power who controlled that land. This doctrine serves as an important legal premise for the present-day United States, which can only exist as a nation-state because the rights of indigenous people to the land Europeans “discovered” was revoked. The Doctrine of Discovery, established by the Inter Caetera, is the legal mechanism that accomplishes this.
On May 4, 1493, Pope Alexander VI granted King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain exclusive rights to claim territory in the Americas by issuing the Inter Caetera, a Papal Bull. An official edict of the Pope, the Bull demarcated a line about 320 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands and gave Spain the exclusive right to land everywhere west of that line. This arrangement was later renegotiated in the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, which moved the demarcated line west 1,185 miles and allowed Portugal to claim the coast of Brazil. Invoking the “authority of Almighty God”, the Papal Bull granted Spain “full and free power, authority, and jurisdiction of every kind” within the land claimed. The Pope’s purpose was ostensibly to convert the native people to Christianity, but in practice, the Bull also legitimized the enslavement of the indigenous population. The Papal Bull also established the “Doctrine of Discovery,” which gave European powers dominion over their claims in the New World. According to this Doctrine, native people could occupy the land on which they lived, but only as subordinates of the European power who controlled that land. This doctrine serves as an important legal premise for the present-day United States, which can only exist as a nation-state because the rights of indigenous people to the land Europeans “discovered” was revoked. The Doctrine of Discovery, established by the Inter Caetera, is the legal mechanism that accomplishes this.
Last updated: November 17, 2018