Discovery doctrine

The discovery doctrine, also called the doctrine of discovery, is a legal and religious concept of property law that allows governments to lay claim to lands that have been "discovered" by citizens of that country, and to usurp any claims of the indigenous people of that land. Through the discovery doctrine, highly militarized countries have been able to colonize mineral-rich lands for centuries. Many times the conquering forces committed genocide against indigenous peoples. Due to the discovery doctrine, some cultures have been permanently wiped out of existence.
The United States Supreme Court has upheld the discovery doctrine many times, as have the courts of other colonial powers such as Great Britain, France, Portugal, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands.
During the General Convention of the Episcopal Church conducted on 8-17 August 2009, the bishops of the church adopted a resolution officially repudiating the discovery doctrineGeneral Convention renounces Doctrine of Discovery" by Mary Frances Schjonberg (27 August 2009) Episcopal Life Online, (archived from August 27, 2009). — rather late and pointless, since the United Nations already had an effective declaration on decolonization by 1960.The United Nations and Decolonization: History The United Nations (archived from December 31, 2011).
==History==
The discovery doctrine can be traced back to a series of papal bulls by the Catholic Church,Untangling the roots: In his new book, scholar Robert P. Jones exposes the disturbing links between Christian Nationalism and white supremacy (Mar 28, 2024) Church & State Magazine, Americans United for Separation of Church and State. starting with Pope Nicholas V's in 1452.The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future by Robert P. Jones (2023) Simon & Schuster. 166800951X. Dum Diversas granted the Catholic King Alfonso V the following rights, loosely translated as:Dum Diversas Doctrine of Discovery, Indigenous Values Initiative.
It has been suggested that the motivation for Dum Diversas was for another Christian Crusade against Muslim lands by Portugal, but the more immediate motivation was the recent siege of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire,The No-Nonsense Guide to Islam by Merryl Wyn Davies & Ziauddin Sardar (2004) Verso. ISBN 1859844545. that lead to its seizure by the Ottomans in 1453. Dum Diversas also had the effect of legitimizing within the Catholic world Portugal's claims to lands of the North Africa that it had recently explored.Go-betweens and the Colonization of Brazil: 1500–1600 by Alida C. Metcalf (2005) University of Texas Press. ISBN 0292709706.
Nicholas V later issued the Romanus Pontifex bull in 1455, which further ordered perpetual enslavement of non-Christians.African Laborers for a New Empire: Iberia, Slavery, and the Atlantic World: Pope Nicolas V and the Portuguese Slave Trade by David Wheat (February 2014) The Lowcountry Digital History Initiative. In a foreshadowing of slave owners' arguments in the Confederate States of America, church leaders at the time of the bull "argued that slavery served as a natural deterrent and Christianizing influence to 'barbarous' behavior among pagans."
In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed to the Caribbean, finding islands previously unknown to Europe and returned to his sponsors the King and Queens of Spain in 1493. Following the news of Columbus, Pope Alexander VI issued the papal bull Inter Caetera in 1493. These events led to the creation of European empires that stretched across most of the globe.
Inter Caetera validated Spain's claim to the lands claimed in the New World, but also established the rules of engagement between for competing European colonial powers.
==See also==
*Imperialism
*Manifest destiny — one of the manifestations of the discovery doctrine
*Slavery in the Bible
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Imperialism
Category:Political terms