In this bull, Pope Alexander VI responds to Christopher Columbus’ exploration of North and South America by decreeing that land “discovered” by envoys of the Spanish kingdom–and not already claimed by Christians–belonged to it. He further specifies that land west of an imaginary line of longitude running through the eastern part of present-day Brazil belonged to Spain and everything east to Portugal. This “Doctrine of Discovery” became the basis of European claims to colonize the Americas. The text was originally written in Latin and takes its name, Inter caetera from the opening phrase (“Among other”).
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