In 1493 the pope at that time, Pope Alexander VI, in an effort to keep peace between two Roman Catholic nations who were interested in colonizing the countries existing outside of Europe, sent a letter dividing the world in two so that lands and peoples found to the west of this line belonged to Spain and lands found to the east were the property of Portugal. There were many things not taken into account in this Papal Bull, such as the people and their rulers of the newly found (at least to the Spanish and Portuguese explorers) lands. There was no provision made for other European countries, either Catholic or Protestant, who might be interested in creating empires. The two articles below are able to explain far better than I how the Line of Demarcation was supposed to work, and the consequences of this papal action. Captn John Line of Demarcation >From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Line of Demarcation was an imaginary longitude, moved slightly from the line drawn by Pope Alexander VI to divide new lands claimed by Portugal from those of Spain. This line was drawn in 1493 after Christopher Columbus returned from his maiden voyage to the Americas. Territorial disputes between the two seafaring nations led the Pope to adjudicate in the hope that this would lead to peace between the two powers. It allocated territory as between Spain and Portugal, excepting only those areas already ruled by a Christian monarch or power; the interests of the people then inhabiting the affected lands were not otherwise taken into account. As such, the Pope's arbitaration could be considered as laying the legal and political foundation for countless other international documents drawn over the next four and a half centuries, based on the implicit or explicit assumption that European powers had the right to divide the rest of the world among themselves without regard to the wishes and aspirations of the peoples living there - an assumption still taken for granted in the Nineteenth Century (for example, in the partition of Africa between colonial powers in the Congress of Berlin) and only gradually coming into question during the Twentieth Century. Thus, Alexander VI can be considered to have laid an important cornerstone in the legal foundation of Colonialism. The line drawn ran north to south about 560 kilometres (350 miles) west of the Azores and Cape Verde islands. On the other side of the globe, it passed just east of the Philippine islands. Portugal's claim to the Philippines was recognized by Spain in the Treaty of Saragossa in 1529, which set the longitude 17° east of The Moluccas The Spice Islands. Portugal was allowed to claim land to the east of this line, and Spain to the west. The line was never surveyed and many historians suppose that it was near the 48° longitude. It also just missed crossing the South American coast which had not yet been discovered. However, neither nation was satisfied with this settlement, and a year later they mutually agreed by the Treaty of Tordesillas (signed in 1494) to shift the line 2,000 km (1,300 miles) to the west of the Cape Verde Islands. This later gave the Portuguese a claim to Brazil. In later treaties between the two nations, Portugal gave up its claim to the Philippines in exchange for Brazil. Although the line was created to settle territorial disputes between the sole powers at that time, it did not take into account the rise of other powers such as France, nor the Protestant nations of Britain or the Netherlands, who ignored the papal demarcation and staked their own claims. Christian History Institute May 4, 1493Alexander's Line Sounded Good on Paper ©2007 At the Spanish court, smiles creased the faces of almost everyone except the Portuguese Ambassador as Pope Alexander's letter was read. "Alexander, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to the illustrious sovereigns, our very dear son in Christ, Ferdinand, king, and our very dear daughter in Christ, Isabella, Queen of Castile, Leon, Aragon, Sicily, and Granada..." The letter (technically called a bull) drew a line between the colonies of Spain and Portugal. The pope declared that this would advance the cause of Christ. "Among other works well pleasing to the Divine Majesty and cherished of our heart, this assuredly ranks highest, that in our times especially the Catholic faith and the Christian religion be exalted and be everywhere increased and spread, that the health of souls be cared for and that barbarous nations be overthrown and brought to the faith itself... "We have indeed learned that you, who for a long time had intended to seek out and discover certain islands and mainlands remote and unknown and not hitherto discovered by others, to the end that you might bring to the worship of our Redeemer and the profession of the Catholic faith their residents and inhabitants..." Why was this extraordinary document written? In the fifteenth century, Portuguese sailors found their way around Africa to India. The little nation grew rich on trade in spices and other oriental products. Columbus persuaded Ferdinand and Isabella that the world was round and that India could be reached just as easily by sailing West. Spain soon found an empire in the West. In this way the two nations got the jump on the rest of Europe in exploring and colonizing the world and profiting on its rich resources. However, their claims soon clashed. Who could settle their differences? Both nations were Catholic. Both considered the Pope the final authority. Popes had already decided questions of territorial conflict between them. Portugal and Spain accepted it when on this day, May 4, 1493, Pope Alexander VI issued his bull. A Spaniard himself, his ruling favored Spain. The pope's line ran from the arctic pole to the Antarctic pole one-hundred leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands. Anything to the west of that line belonged to Spain. Anything to the east, belonged to Portugal. The exception was if any other Christian king or power already held lands within those areas by Christmas day, 1493. Alexander has been harshly criticized for this bull. For instance, it treated the people of America and Asia as if their governments were of no account. Since he was one of the most wicked Renaissance popes, everything he did is viewed with suspicion. However, in this instance, he seems to have been honestly trying to keep the peace. Bibliography 1. Brusher, Joseph. Popes Through the Ages. Princeton, N.J.: Van Nostrand, 1959. 2. Davenport,Frances Gardiner. European Treaties Bearing on the History of the United States and its Dependencies to 1648. Washington, D.C Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1917 at http://www.nativeweb.org/pages/legal/indig-inter-caetera.html 3. De Rosa, Peter. Vicars of Christ; the dark side of the papacy. Crown, 1988. 4. Loughlin, James F. "Pope Alexander VI" The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914. 5. Montor, Artaud de. The Lives and Times of the Popes. New York: The Catholic publication society of America, 1910 - 11.