AD 1493: The Pope asserts rights to colonize, convert, and enslave. Pope Alexander VI issues a papal bull or decree, “Inter Caetera," in which he authorizes Spain and Portugal to colonize the Americas and its Native peoples as subjects.
Along with the right to possess the land, the Papal Bull also indicated that Spain had specific responsibilities. List and explain these duties. Why was it impossible for Spain, or indeed any other European nation, to realize the extent of the territory Spain controlled after May 1493?
In response to Portugal’s discovery of the Spice Islands in 1512, the Spanish put forward the idea, in 1518, that Pope Alexander had divided the world into two halves. By this time, however, other European powers had overwhelmingly rejected the notion that the Pope had the right to convey sovereignty of regions as vast as the New World.
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created is a nonfiction book by Charles C. Mann first published in 2011.
The Papal Bull "Inter Caetera," issued by Pope Alexander VI on May 4, 1493, played a central role in the Spanish conquest of the New World. The document supported Spain’s strategy to ensure its exclusive right to the lands discovered by Columbus the previous year. It established a demarcation line one hundred leagues west ...
McIntosh, Chief Justice John Marshall’s opinion in the unanimous decision held "that the principle of discovery gave European nations an absolute right to New World lands.". In essence, American Indians had only a right of occupancy, which could be abolished.
The Bull Inter Caetera made headlines again throughout the 1990s and in 2000, when many Catholics petitioned Pope John Paul II to formally revoke it and recognize the human rights of indigenous "non-Christian peoples.". An English translation is available.
It established a demarcation line one hundred leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands and assigned Spain the exclusive right to acquire territorial possessions and to trade in all lands west of that line.
The Cantino planisphere of 1502 shows the line of the Treaty of Tordesillas. On May 4, 1493, Pope Alexander VI issued the papal bull ‘ Inter caetera ‘ ( Among other [works] ), which granted to the Catholic Majesties of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain all lands to the “west and south” of a pole-to-pole line 100 leagues west and south of any ...
Compared to the Treaty of Alcáçovas of 1479, the new demarcation line meant a significant expansion of Castilian power. In the Treaty of Alcáçovas, the areas south of the Canary Islands had been assigned to the Portuguese in particular, ...
In the late 15th century, Spain and Portugal had a quite difficult relationship due to their competing explorers and the wish to own as many colonial territories as possible along the African coast line. The previous years, several papal bulls were issued and the Spanish government came to realize the authority of these bulls. They initiated diplomatic discussions over the rights to possess and govern the newly found lands. Even though the Spanish and Portuguese delegates debated and negotiated for several months concerning this topic, they could not find any agreement. Before Christopher Columbus received support for his voyage from Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, he had first approached King John II of Portugal. The king’s scholars and navigators reviewed Columbus’s documentation, determined that his calculations grossly underestimated the diameter of the Earth and thus the length of the voyage, and recommended against subsidizing the expedition. Upon Columbus’s return from his first voyage to the Americas, his first landing was made in the Portuguese Azores; a subsequent storm drove his ship to Lisbon on 4 March 1493. Hearing of Columbus’s discoveries, the Portuguese king informed him that he believed the voyage to be in violation of the 1479 Treaty of Alcáçovas. The treaty had been ratified with the 1481 papal bull Aeterni regis, which confirmed previous bulls of 1452 ( Dum diversas ), 1455 ( Romanus Pontifex), and 1456 ( Inter caetera ), recognizing Portuguese territorial claims along the West African coast.
The Portuguese tried to achieve an improvement by trading directly with the Castilians, which led to the Treaty of Tordesillas and together they defined and delineated a zone of Spanish rights exclusive of Portugal.
An important effect of the combination of this papal bull and the Treaty of Tordesillas was that nearly all the Pacific Ocean and the west coast of North America were given to Spain. In response to Portugal’s discovery of the Spice Islands in 1512, the Spanish put forward the idea, in 1518, that Pope Alexander VI had divided ...
In the Treaty of Alcáçovas, the areas south of the Canary Islands had been assigned to the Portuguese in particular, including future discoveries and without any limitation to the west. As a result, the Portuguese King John II disagreed with the new demarcation line.
The Treaty of Tordesillas. The treaty moved the line further west to a meridian 370 leagues west of the Portuguese Cape Verde Islands, now explicitly giving Portugal all newly discovered lands east of the line. The treaty also allowed the two countries to pass each other toward the west or east, and still possess whatever lands they were first ...
Preceded by. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created is a nonfiction book by Charles C. Mann first published in 2011. It covers the global effects of the Columbian Exchange, following Columbus ' first landing in the Americas, that led to our current globalized world civilization.
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created . 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created is a nonfiction book by Charles C. Mann first published in 2011. It covers the global effects of the Columbian Exchange, following Columbus ' first landing in the Americas, that led to our current globalized world civilization.
In his book, Mann argues that Columbus paved the way to the homogenocene, a particular feature of the anthropocene that is marked by a global homogenization of (agricultural) species, diseases, and tools brought about by the migration and transport that set in with the discovery of the new world.
The book was adapted for younger readers by Rebecca Stefoff and published by Seven Stories Press in 2015 as 1493 for Young People: From Columbus's Voyage to Globalization.