  inter caetera ("among other [works]") was a papal bull issued by pope alexander vi on , which granted to spain (the crowns of castile and aragon) all lands to the "west and south" of a pole-to-pole line 100 leagues west and south of any of the islands of the azores or the cape verde islands.a single meridian is excluded because no lands can be south of it. two partial meridians are possible, one extending north from a point west of the azores and another extending south from a point south of the cape verde islands, the two being connected by a north-northwest south-southeast line segment. another possibility is a rhumb line west and south of the islands extending north-northwest and south-southeast. all rhumb lines reach both poles by spiraling into them. it remains unclear to the present whether the pope was issuing a "donation" of sovereignty or a feudal infeodation or investiture. differing interpretations have been argued since the bull was issued, with some arguing that it was only meant to transform the possession and occupation of land into lawful sovereignty. others, including the spanish crown and the conquistadors, interpreted it in the widest possible sense, deducing that it gave spain full political sovereignty.. online, google books entry the inter caetera bull and others similar to it, particularly dudum siquidem, made up the bulls of donation."the mÃ¶bius strip: a spatial history of colonial society in guerrero, mexico", jonathan d. amith, p. 80, stanford university press, 2005 isbn 0-8047-4893-4 == background == before receiving support for his voyage from isabella and ferdinand, columbus had first approached king john ii of portugal. his scholars and navigators reviewed columbus's documentation, determined that his calculations were faulty, and recommended against subsidizing the expedition. upon columbus's return, a first landing was made in the portuguese azores; a subsequent storm drove his ship to lisbon on 4 march 1493. hearing of columbus's discoveries, the king informed him that he believed the voyage to be in violation of the 1479 treaty of alcÃ¡Ã§ovas. the treaty had been ratified with the 1481 p
1493_in_Portugal 1493_works 15th-century_papal_bulls 15th_century_in_South_America 15th_century_in_Spain Colonialism Documents_of_Pope_Alexander_VI Geopolitical_rivalry History_of_Brazil_(1500a1815) Lines_of_longitude Portuguese_colonization_of_the_Americas Spanish_colonization_of_the_Americas