Pope Alexander VI Issues Inter caetera Bull
In May 1493 Pope Alexander VI—the Spanish-born Rodrigo Borgia—issued the Inter caetera bull granting the Crown of Castile dominion over all lands discovered or to be discovered west of a line 100 leagues from the Azores and Cape Verde islands. The bull was the legal foundation for Spanish claims in the Americas and was shortly superseded in practical terms by the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), which moved the line further west. The episode demonstrated the papacy's claim to universal jurisdiction over non-Christian peoples and the willingness of Iberian monarchs to use papal authority to legitimise colonial conquest. France, England, and the Dutch Republic never accepted the bull's validity.
- Year: 1493 CE
- Category: Political
