Doctrine of Discovery: History
Pope Alexander VI and the Bull Inter Caetera
The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues called for Pope Benedict XVI to revoke the 15th century papal bulls collectively known as the Doctrine of Discovery.
The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues called for Pope
Benedict XVI to revoke the 15th century papal bulls collectively known as the Doctrine of Discovery. You may wonder why religious documents dating back over 500 years still matter.
First a little history.
Bull Romanus Pontifex 1454
The Bull Romanus Pontifex issued by Pope Nicholas V was rooted in the Crusades. It praised Prince Henry of Portugal for his defeat of the Saracens and essentially allowed Portugal exclusive rights to any lands where "...enemies of Christ wheresoever placed..." were vanquished. It also allowed Portugal "...to reduce their persons [enemies of Christ] to perpetual slavery..." and to "...apply and appropriate to himself [King Alfonso of Portugal] and his successors the kingdoms, dukedoms, counties, principalities, dominions, possessions, and goods, and to convert them to his and their use and profit..."
Bull Inter Caetera
When Chistopher Columbus landed in America, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Castille were anxious that they should enjoy the same rights to the lands they conquered in the name of Christ as Portugal had. They applied to Pope Alexander VI who subsequently issued the Bull Inter Caetera granting Castille rights to "all islands and mainlands found and to be found, discovered and to be discovered towards the west and south, by drawing and establishing a line from the Arctic pole, namely the north, to the Antarctic pole, namely the south, no matter whether the said mainlands and islands are found and to be found in the direction of India or towards any other quarter, the said line to be distant one hundred leagues towards the west and south from any of the islands commonly known as the Azores and Cape Verde" provided they had not already been discovered in the name of another king and provided that Isabella and Ferdinand fulfilled his desire that "discovered" people be "subjugated and brought to the faith itself."
From that point on, not just Spain and Portugal, but England, France, and Holland, whether or not they still held to the Roman Catholic Church as the "one true faith" relied on the Papal Bulls that came to be known as "the Doctrine of Discovery" to rationalize subjugation of Indigenous peoples around the globe.
See Doctrine of Discovery: Today for the way the Doctrine of Discovery is put to use in modern times.
