Inter caetera
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Inter caetera was a papal bull issued by Pope Alexander VI on May 4, 1493, which granted to Spain all lands to the "west and south" of a meridian 100 leagues (418 km) west of the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands, at 36°8'W.[1]
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 (1498). These lands were "to be discovered" beyond those along the west coast of Africa as far as Guinea that were given to Portugal via the 1481 bull Aeterni regis, which had ratified the Treaty of Alcaçovas. Moreover, in the bull Dudum siquidem dated September 25, 1493 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."[2] This nullification of Portugal's aspirations led to the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal, which moved the line a little further west to 39°53'W.[3]
Initially, the division line did not explicitly extend around 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 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.[4] The antipodal line in the eastern hemisphere was then established by the Treaty of Saragossa (1529) near 145°E.
Inter caetera states: "... 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 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, and the West Coast of North America were given to Spain, which used them for example, to make claims to British Columbia and Alaska as lands bordering the Pacific Ocean, as late as 1819, until the Adams-Onís Treaty.
[edit] References
- ^ Measured west of the longitude of the westernmost cape of the westernmost island of the Azores, Flores, 31°16'W, using the Spanish league of 4.18 km at a latitude of 39°27'N (coordinates from Terraserver) (1° of longitude = (111.320 + 0.373sin²φ)cosφ km, where φ is latitude).
- ^ Emma Helen Blair, James Alexander Robertson, "Preface to Volume I", The Phillipine Islands 1493-1803.
- ^ Measured west of the longitude of the westernmost cape of the westernmost island, Santo Antão, 25°21.5'W, using the Spanish league of 4.18 km at a latitude of 17°2.5'N (coordinates from Terraserver).
- ^ Edward Gaylord Bourne, "Historical Introduction", in The Phillipine Islands 1493-1803 by Emma Helen Blair.
