Law of the Indies: Discovery and Incorporation Explained
Item 29: The Law of the Indies
1 – The Discovery and Incorporation of the Indies: The Alexandrine Bulls
For the bulls Romanus Pontifex of 1455 and 1456, the kings of Portugal acquired control of the islands and lands, discovered and undiscovered, by sailing in the Atlantic south to India. By raising the Catholic Monarchs, Portugal believed that Castile had violated its bulls regarding the conquest of the Canaries. The conflict was finally resolved with the Treaty of Alcáçovas in 1479 between Castile and Portugal.
When Columbus proposed to the Sovereigns of Castile the company to reach the Indies by the route of the West, legal problems arose from the Portuguese Bulls and the Treaty of Alcáçovas. After discussing the legal feasibility of the trip, Columbus was authorized to undertake the discovery. However, upon learning from King John II of Portugal, via Columbus himself on his return, of the presence of land in the Atlantic, Portugal hastened to claim ownership of the newly discovered islands from the Kings of Castile.
Although Castile relied on the legal titles of discovery and occupation, the Catholic Monarchs managed to obtain another bull from the pontiff that granted them the same rights to the discovered lands as those enjoyed by the Portuguese for their bulls of 1455 and 1456.
At first, Pope Alexander VI issued three bulls: the Inter Cetera of May 3, 1493; the Eximiae Devotionis of May 3, 1493; and the Inter Cetera of May 4, 1493. Subsequently, the Dudum Siquidem was awarded on September 26 of that year.
Although the rights and privileges of the Portuguese and Spaniards were matched, Ferdinand and Isabella were granted the investiture or possession of the lands discovered early and to be discovered later, provided they were not already occupied by a Christian prince. Therefore, no other legal justification was needed. Secondly, the Catholic Monarchs were subjected to the obligation of the evangelization of the Indies.
From the bulls, it can be inferred that the intention of the Catholic Kings was that the islands and lands discovered by Columbus be annexed to the land of Castile. The pontifical donation is to Isabella and Ferdinand without Aragon participating in the company.
The Discovery and the Papal award were legal titles by which the Catholic Kings acquired property in the lands discovered and undiscovered. It was earning assets, not ancestry, so not only to each accounted for one-half of them, they could also dispose of them.
The allocation of the Indies to the Castilian Crown exclusively can be explained by several reasons: first, to distinguish between areas of expansion of the two crowns; second, the precise size of land that had been discovered was not yet known; and third, the political conception of a kingdom under Fernando settled on the basis of a strong monarchical power, incompatible with private ambitions of the nobles of Aragon and Catalonia. Thus, it was in India where they built the first modern state of the Hispanic monarchy.
The complete and full integration of the Indies to the Kingdom of Castile did not occur until the death of Ferdinand in 1516.