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Inter caetera ("Among other [works]") was a papal bull
Papal bull

A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a pope. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end to authenticate it....
 issued by Pope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI

Pope Alexander VI , born Roderic Llan?ol, later Roderic de Borja i Borja was Pope from 1492 to 1503. He is the most controversial of the Secularism popes of the Renaissance, and his surname became a byword for the debased standards of the papacy of that era....
 on 4 May 1493, which granted to Spain
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 (the Crowns of Castile
Crown of Castile

The Crown of Castile, as a historic entity, is usually considered to have begun in 1230 with the third and definitive union of the two kingdoms of Kingdom of Le?n and Kingdom of Castile, or more concretely, with the union of their parliaments a few decades later....
 and Aragon
Crown of Aragon

The Crown of Aragon was a permanent union of multiple titles and states in the hands of the King of Aragon.At the height of its power by the 14th and 15th centuries, the Crown of Aragon was a thalassocracy controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain, Northern Catalonia, as well as some of the major islands and mainland...
) all lands to the "west and south" of a pole-to-pole line 100 league
League (unit)

A league is a Units of measurement of length or area long common in Europe and Latin America, although no longer an official unit in any nation....
s west and south of any of the islands of the Azores
Azores

The Azores is a Portugal archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, about 1,500 km from Lisbon and about 3,900 km from the east coast of North America....
 or the Cape Verde Islands. This bull and other similar to it made up the Bulls of Donation.

Background
Columbus
Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was a Republic of Genoa navigator, colonialist and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean?funded by Queen Isabella of Spain?led to general European awareness of the America in the Western Hemisphere....
' arrival to supposedly Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
tic lands in the western seas in 1492 threatened the unstable relations between Portugal and Spain, which had been jockeying for position and possession of colonial territories along the Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
n coast for many years.






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Inter caetera ("Among other [works]") was a papal bull
Papal bull

A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a pope. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end to authenticate it....
 issued by Pope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI

Pope Alexander VI , born Roderic Llan?ol, later Roderic de Borja i Borja was Pope from 1492 to 1503. He is the most controversial of the Secularism popes of the Renaissance, and his surname became a byword for the debased standards of the papacy of that era....
 on 4 May 1493, which granted to Spain
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 (the Crowns of Castile
Crown of Castile

The Crown of Castile, as a historic entity, is usually considered to have begun in 1230 with the third and definitive union of the two kingdoms of Kingdom of Le?n and Kingdom of Castile, or more concretely, with the union of their parliaments a few decades later....
 and Aragon
Crown of Aragon

The Crown of Aragon was a permanent union of multiple titles and states in the hands of the King of Aragon.At the height of its power by the 14th and 15th centuries, the Crown of Aragon was a thalassocracy controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain, Northern Catalonia, as well as some of the major islands and mainland...
) all lands to the "west and south" of a pole-to-pole line 100 league
League (unit)

A league is a Units of measurement of length or area long common in Europe and Latin America, although no longer an official unit in any nation....
s west and south of any of the islands of the Azores
Azores

The Azores is a Portugal archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, about 1,500 km from Lisbon and about 3,900 km from the east coast of North America....
 or the Cape Verde Islands. This bull and other similar to it made up the Bulls of Donation.

Background


Columbus
Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was a Republic of Genoa navigator, colonialist and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean?funded by Queen Isabella of Spain?led to general European awareness of the America in the Western Hemisphere....
' arrival to supposedly Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
tic lands in the western seas in 1492 threatened the unstable relations between Portugal and Spain, which had been jockeying for position and possession of colonial territories along the Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
n coast for many years. The King of Portugal
List of Portuguese monarchs

This is a list of Portuguese monarchs dating from the independence of Portugal from the kingdom of Kingdom of Le?n in 1128 under Afonso Henriques, who proclaimed himself King in 1139, to the proclamation of the Portuguese Republic on October 5, 1910, during the reign of Manuel II of Portugal, "the Patriot," or "the Missed Kin...
 asserted that the discovery was within the bounds set forth in the papal bulls of 1455, 1456, and 1479. The King and Queen of Spain
List of Spanish monarchs

This is a list of Spanish monarchs?that is, rulers of the country of Spain in the modern sense of the word. The forerunners of the Spanish throne, as well as of the List of Portuguese monarchs, were the following:...
 disputed this and sought a new papal bull on the subject. Pope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI

Pope Alexander VI , born Roderic Llan?ol, later Roderic de Borja i Borja was Pope from 1492 to 1503. He is the most controversial of the Secularism popes of the Renaissance, and his surname became a byword for the debased standards of the papacy of that era....
, a native of Valencia and a friend of the Spanish King, responded with three bulls, dated 3 May and 4 May, which were highly favorable to Spain. The third of these bulls was Inter caetera. The monarchs of England and France did not recognise this division.

Provisions


This bull was silent regarding whether lands to the east of the line would belong to Portugal, which had only recently reached the southern tip of Africa (1488) and had not yet reached India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
 (1498). These lands were "to be discovered" beyond those along the west coast of Africa as far as Guinea
Guinea

Guinea, officially Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa formerly known as French Guinea. The country's current population is estimated at 10,211,437 ....
 that were given to Portugal via the 1481 bull Aeterni regis
Aeterni regis

The Papal Bull Aeterni regis was issued on 21 June 1481 by Pope Sixtus IV, simply confirmed the substance of the Treaty of Alca?ovas, thereby reiterating that treaty's confirmation of Crown of Castile in its possession of the Canary Islands and its granting of all further acquisitions made by Christian powers in Africa to Portugal....
, which had ratified the Treaty of Alcáçovas
Treaty of Alcaçovas

The Treaty of Alc??ovas was signed on September 4, 1479 between the Catholic Monarchs of Crown of Castile and Kingdom of Aragon on one side and the King of Portugal on the other side....
. Moreover, in the bull Dudum siquidem dated 25 September 1493 and entitled Extension of the Apostolic Grant and Donation of the Indies, the Pope granted to Spain even those lands in eastern waters that "at one time or even yet belonged to India".

Cantino Planisphere
This nullification of Portugal's aspirations led to the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas
Treaty of Tordesillas

The Treaty of Tordesillas , signed at Tordesillas , June 7, 1494, divided the "newly discovered" lands outside Europe between Spanish Empire and Portuguese Empire along a north-south meridian 370 league west of the Cape Verde islands ....
 between Spain and Portugal, which 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. Initially, the Tordesillas line did not encircle the globe. Spain and Portugal could pass each other toward the west or east, respectively, on the other side of the globe and still possess whatever lands they were first to discover. 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. The Treaty of Saragossa (1529) settled the dispute by placing the antipodal
Antipodes

The antipodes refer to lands and peoples located on the opposite side of the world compared to the speaker. This has a general, linguistic meaning and a technical, geographical meaning....
 line 17° east of the Moluccas.

Inter caetera states: "Among other works well pleasing to the Divine Majesty and cherished of our heart, this assuredly ranks highest, that in our times especially the Catholic faith and the Christian religion be exalted and be everywhere increased and spread, that the health of souls be cared for and that barbarous nations be overthrown and brought to the faith itself. ...we (the Papacy) command you (Spain) ... to instruct the aforesaid inhabitants and residents and dwellers therein in the Catholic faith, and train them in good morals." This papal command marked the beginning of colonization and Catholic Missions
Spanish colonization of the Americas

The Spanish colonization of the Americas was Spain's conquest, settlement, and rule over much of the western hemisphere. Beginning with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, over three centuries the Spanish Empire expanded from early small settlements in the Caribbean to include Central America, most of South America, Mexico, what toda...
 in the New World. An important if initially unintended effect of the combination of this papal bull and the Treaty of Tordesillas was that nearly all the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
 and the west coast of North America
History of the west coast of North America

The human history of the west coast of North America is believed to stretch back to the arrival of the earliest people over the Bering Strait, or alternately along a now-submerged coastal plain, through the development of significant pre-Columbian cultures and population densities, to the arrival of the European ethnic groups explorers and...
 were given to Spain. Consistent with these ancient claims, Spain made claims
Nootka Convention

For other uses of the word Nootka, see Nootka .The 'Nootka Conventions' were a series of three agreements between the Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of Great Britain, signed in the 1790s which averted a war between the two empires over overlapping claims to portions of the Pacific Northwest coast of North America....
 to British Columbia
History of British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost province in Canada. Indigenous peoples have inhabited the territory that is now called "British Columbia", as described in their oral traditions, from time immemorial....
 and Alaska
History of Alaska

The history of Alaska dates back to the end of the Upper Paleolithic Period , when Asian people groups crossed the Bering Land Bridge into what is now western Alaska....
 as late as 1819 because they bordered the Pacific Ocean. The Adams-Onís Treaty
Adams-Onís Treaty

The Adams-On?s Treaty of 1819, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty of 1819, settled a border dispute in North America between the United States and Spain....
 resolved this by settling the border between Spain and the United States, limiting Spain's northward expansion to the 42nd parallel
42nd parallel north

The 42nd parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 42 degree true north of the Earth equator.Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 42? north passes through:...
, south of Oregon
Oregon

Oregon is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The area was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before the arrival of traders, explorers and settlers....
.

Modern protests by indigenous peoples

Various groups representing indigenous peoples of the Americas have organised protests and raised petitions seeking the repeal of the papal bull Inter caetera which they believe led to the subjugation of their peoples, and to remind Catholic leaders of what they perceive to be the record of conquest, disease and slavery in the Americas, sometimes justified in the name of Christianity, that have had a devastating effect on their cultures.

See also


  • Portuguese Empire
    Portuguese Empire

    The Portuguese Empire was the first global empire in history and also the earliest and longest lived of the modern European Colonialism empires, spanning almost six centuries, from the capture of Ceuta in 1415 to the handover of Macau in 1999....
  • Portuguese colonization of the Americas
    Portuguese colonization of the Americas

    Portugal was the leading country in the European exploration of the world in the 15th century. The Treaty of Tordesillas split the New World into Spain and Portugal zones in 1494....
  • Spanish Empire
    Spanish Empire

    The Spanish Empire was one of the largest empires in world history, and one of the first global empires. It included territories and colonies ruled by Spain in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania between the 15th and late 19th centuries....
  • History of the west coast of North America
    History of the west coast of North America

    The human history of the west coast of North America is believed to stretch back to the arrival of the earliest people over the Bering Strait, or alternately along a now-submerged coastal plain, through the development of significant pre-Columbian cultures and population densities, to the arrival of the European ethnic groups explorers and...
  • Line of Demarcation
    Line of Demarcation

    The Line of Demarcation was a longitude, moved slightly from the line drawn by Pope Alexander VI to divide new lands claimed by Portugal from those of Spain....
  • Et cetera
    Et cetera

    Et cetera is a Latin expression that means "and other things," or "and so forth." It is taken directly from the Latin expression which literally means "and the rest " and is a transliteration of the Greek language "?a? ?te?a" ....
    , a Latin phrase meaning "and others"


External links