Doctrine Of Discovery
The Doctrine of Discovery, also known as the Doctrine of Christian Discovery, has its root since 1452, even before the voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492. All the activities involving Doctrine of Discovery are enshrined within the framework of Christendom or Christianity. It can also be divided into two basic ideologies: Discovering land and resources; and taking those resources by force. In the process of the conquest of the Americas, lands and resources were discovered on the Indigenous territories, and after discovering these lands and resources, the Western Empires forcefully took them away from the rightful owners: known as the Indigenous peoples. Also, in July 2015, Pope Francis made a public apology to the Indigenous peoples in America
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Within this year, Pope Nicholas V, issued out the papal bull “Romanus Pontifex” to King Alfonso V of Portugal, declaring unending war on all non-Christians all over the world. In the letter, the pope also asked the king to sanction, punish, intimidate, and harass all non-Christians and their territories through conquest and colonization. This major problem here is that most of these non-Christians during this period were the Indigenous peoples. King Alfonso acted on the order of the pope by capturing, vanquishing, exploiting, and subduing the Saracens, pagans, and every other person who was non-Christian and tagging them “enemies of Christ or enemies of the Cross.” Furthermore, the non-Christians, who were mostly Indigenous peoples were treated less of humans and were subdued to perpetual slavery and taking away all their belongings and lands by force. This voyage was also the first time that got into Africa, making Portugal the first Western country to invade Africa. During this time, the Portuguese started increasing their exploitation in Africa while also enslaving the people by expanding their dominions over their region. Consequently, it became a part of their objective to claim any land they set their feet upon. This was the idea behind the Doctrine of Discovery, which the Christians made as a law that wherever they set their feet becomes their
Within this year, Pope Nicholas V, issued out the papal bull “Romanus Pontifex” to King Alfonso V of Portugal, declaring unending war on all non-Christians all over the world. In the letter, the pope also asked the king to sanction, punish, intimidate, and harass all non-Christians and their territories through conquest and colonization. This major problem here is that most of these non-Christians during this period were the Indigenous peoples. King Alfonso acted on the order of the pope by capturing, vanquishing, exploiting, and subduing the Saracens, pagans, and every other person who was non-Christian and tagging them “enemies of Christ or enemies of the Cross.” Furthermore, the non-Christians, who were mostly Indigenous peoples were treated less of humans and were subdued to perpetual slavery and taking away all their belongings and lands by force. This voyage was also the first time that got into Africa, making Portugal the first Western country to invade Africa. During this time, the Portuguese started increasing their exploitation in Africa while also enslaving the people by expanding their dominions over their region. Consequently, it became a part of their objective to claim any land they set their feet upon. This was the idea behind the Doctrine of Discovery, which the Christians made as a law that wherever they set their feet becomes their