POD00260

Pope Alexander VI was a scandalous figure who bribed his way to becoming Pope and had numerous illegitimate children. He influenced the colonization of the Americas by granting Spain control of the land west and south of a specific line, while Portugal had control of the land east of the line. This gave Spain a monopoly in the region, allowing them to easily take over the native populations. Portugal, on the other hand, was not strong enough to establish colonies inland and was limited to coastal areas. The debate on how the native people should be treated by the Spaniards resulted in the distinction between "natural slaves" and "natural children." The Pope had influence on this debate as well. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Choate Rosemary Hall Broadcasting History Podcast. Today, we are talking about a certain Pope Alexander VI. Pope Alexander VI led a scandalous life before and during his reign as Pope, but what else did he do? How did he influence the colonization of the Americas, and how did he assist in deciding how the native people would be treated? All this and more will be answered today on this episode. Today, as a special guest, we have Roshan Desai, he is an expert on the colonization of the Americas. So, Roshan, can you tell us a little bit about Pope Alexander VI? Yes, Pope Alexander VI was actually quite a terrible person. His reign as Pope is considered by most to be one of the worst and most sinful out of all the Popes. Before even being named Pope, he was part of the Italian crime family. The only way he even got to be Pope was by bribing the other Cardinals. He had three illegitimate children before being named Pope, and six after being named Pope, and he even had a child with his own daughter. He was certainly a terrible person, but now we will learn some about what he influenced during his reign as Pope. Tell us, how did he influence the colonization of the Americas? Of course, we are going to travel back to 1493, when Spain and Portugal are competing for lands in the New World, as well as across the world. Both nations are two out of three most obedient countries to the Church. Any sort of conflict between these nations would be catastrophic for the Church. Spain and Portugal both want the Pope to grant them claim to the land, but he does not want to exit the other country. After much thought, he came up with a solution called Inter Caetera. The document gave Spain control of all the land west and south of the Polo-Polo line, while Portugal only had full control and claim to the land east of the line. The document went into place on May 3rd, 1493. So if one of the most important things he did during his reign as Pope was establish this Inter Caetera, can you tell us more about exactly what it meant, and the effect it had on the native people? Of course, the literal translation of Inter Caetera is taken from the first line of the text, which was originally written in Latin. It means, among the other. What the document established was that Spain was able to gain a complete monopoly in the region they controlled. No one had access to this area without the Spanish's permission. The Spanish have freed the USA police. When they entered the Americas, the natives were not strong enough to stop them, so they easily take over. Now with control, Spain can start working and finding ways to make money. Portugal also had the same chance that Spain did, with the exception of being in a different region. Portugal, however, was not strong enough to ever move inland and set up real colonies. They were kept in coastal areas where they were only able to set up small forts. They hired mercenaries who were very effective at sea battle. They were able to have a monopoly in the coastal areas. When they would try to move inland, they would be too weak. Another issue was in Africa there was a large number of diseases that would slow the Portuguese down. However, Spain was the one who passed the diseases to the natives. That eliminated most of the population, effectively letting Spain take over. That is the reason why Spain benefited more from the rule than Portugal did. You are probably thinking that Portugal must have been displeased with the decision and both sides broke the treaty. With the exception of Portugal having control of Brazil and Spain in the Philippines, both countries followed the rule to heart. Their main reasons were that they were so obedient and Spain and Portugal always followed the rule and respected the Church's decisions. Alright. Now that we've heard about the Inter Caetera, I've got one more subject to go over. I've heard a little bit about a debate that happened around the same time as the Spaniards were conquering the Americas. It was about how the native people were to be treated by the Spaniards. Can you tell us about that? Sure. Before I tell you about the debate, you should know that there are two terms that we use to determine how the Spaniards would treat the people and the lands they conquered. The two words are natural slave and natural child. The term natural slave is derived from one of Aristotle's theories. He thought that since he was in the Mediterranean, he got the perfect amount of stone and therefore was above those who did not live in Greece and got too much or too little stone. A natural slave would be treated as the name implies. If not killed in battle, they would be enslaved and put to work for the Spaniards. A natural child, however, would be converted to Christianity and not be enslaved. This debate happened after Alexander VI sent ineffabilis et sumi patris to the King of Portugal, in which it was detailed that those that voluntarily surrendered would be treated as natural children rather than natural slaves. The debate that later occurred definitively decided whether the Native Americans would be treated as natural slaves or natural children, and Pope Alexander VI had a good amount of influence on that debate as well. Well, Roshan, it looks like we've run out of time. Thank you so much for joining me today, and I hope to have you back on the podcast sometime. You're welcome, and thank you for having me. Thank you.