Even before Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the Caribbean, the Spanish and Portuguese were pursuing journeys of discovery and expansion across the world. News of Columbus’ success heightened tension and questions over who held rights in overseas territories. This document, issued by Pope Alexander VI, was an early attempt to establish an area over which the Spanish could claim authority.

 

The bull established a line, running between the north and south poles, 100 leagues south and west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands. Everything beyond this line that was not already ruled by a Christian king or prince was granted to Ferdinand and Isabella, and those who succeeded them as rulers of Castile and Leon. It was also forbidden for anyone to conduct trade in this territory without the permission of the Spanish crown.

 

In proclaiming this bull, Alexander’s chief objective was the conversion of newly encountered peoples to the Catholic faith. He instructed Ferdinand and Isabella to appoint God-fearing officials with the express aim of bringing Indigenous People into the Christian fold. The Spanish rulers were considered trustworthy servants of the Church, having been responsible for the recent conquest and conversion of Granada, a previously Muslim territory in southern Iberia. The bull does, however, tacitly acknowledge other motives for European expansion, saying, “in the islands and countries already discovered are found gold, spices, and very many other precious things of divers kinds and quantities.” Nevertheless, the spread of Christianity remained a concern for spiritual and secular leaders alike.

Inter caetera was important in establishing a Spanish monopoly in the ‘New World’. Although the full extent of this territory was not yet known, it encompassed most of the Americas. In practice, Spanish exploration, conquest and trading is likely to have continued with or without papal sanction, but the Portuguese were genuine rivals, and as such a proclamation from the head of Christendom granted a powerful advantage to the Spanish. Even so, the practical implementation of the bull was short lived. The kings of Castile and Portugal came to their own agreement over who had the rights to newly discovered lands just a year later, with the Treaty of Tordesillas. Nor did the bull prevent the expansion of other European powers into the Americas and elsewhere, although the Spanish Empire was certainly the dominant power in the western hemisphere throughout the sixteenth century.

In the longer term, it was the bull’s emphasis on Christianity and discovery that truly mattered. It granted land that was newly "discovered" (i.e. newly discovered by Christian powers) and was not currently ruled by Christians. The European expansion into the Americas, and later the westward expansion of the United States, built on this idea that land not currently occupied by Christian people was free to be ‘discovered’ and taken, regardless of the presence of non-Christian indigenous people.

 

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