PORTRAITS FROM THE PAST/Decrees That Divided the Continent

A NEW LINE ON THE MAP

Fed up with Alexander, John negotiated directly with Ferdinand and Isabella.  "The Spanish monarchs, fearing the ruthless Portuguese and busy enough digesting the New World, were more than happy to seek a reasonable compromise," says author William Bernstein. So, in  1494,  a treaty named after the Spanish town in which it was stipulated was signed in Tordesillas.

The Treaty of Tordesillas maintained the north-south line Alexander had drawn but moved it 920 miles  (1,480 km) farther west. Supposedly, all Africa and Asia now "belonged" to Portugal; the New World to Spain.  This westward shift of the line, however, brought much of the as-yet-undiscovered land later known as Brazil into Portuguese territory.

The decrees that authorized Spain and Portugal to take possession of and defend newly acquired lands were used as basis for much bloodshed.   These decisions not only ignored the rights of people who lived in those lands-leading to their subjugation and exploitation-but also spawned centuries of conflict among nations over power and freedom of the seas. 

QUICK FACTS

* Successive popes urged Spain and Portugal to Christianize any pagans encountered  on their voyages of discovery.

* In 1493, Pope Alexander VI drew a line down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean that granted Spain authority over the area to the west.

* Alexander's decree, and  other similar to it, were used by Spain to make full claims on the newly discovered lands.

* For centuries, European nations fought to defend or attack the legitimacy of territorial claims authorized by papal decrees.

"The Arrogance of the West"

"This notion, if a Roman pontiff dividing up whole continents to the exclusive benefit of two small European kingdoms, seem incredible now, a celebrated instance of the arrogance of the West," says author Barnaby Rogerson.  This papal decree "can be seen as the starting gun for the cruelties of all subsequent
colonial empires," adds Rogerson. 

Next time: Moral Values That Truly Enrich

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