Christopher Columbus' so-called “discovery” in 1492 of what
were initially believed to be Asiatic lands in the western seas threatened the already
unstable relationship between the kingdoms of Portugal and Castile, which had
been jockeying for position and possession of colonial territories along the
African coast for many years. The king of Portugal asserted that the discovery
was within the bounds set forth in Papal bulls in 1455, 1456, and 1479. The
king and queen of Castile disputed this and sought a new Papal Bull on the
subject.
Pope Alexander VI, a native of Valencia and a friend of the Castilian king, responded with three bulls, which were highly favorable to Castile. The third of these bulls, Inter Caetera, became the authoritative document regarding claims of empire in the so-called "new world." The bull assigned to Castile the exclusive right to acquire territory west of the meridian situated one hundred leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands. More specifically, it justified, in the pursuit of wealth, the conquest, subjugation and even atrocities committed against the peoples of what is today the Caribbean Islands, as well Central and South America.
