The bull Dum Diversas granted Portugal a claimed religious and political warrant to conquer territories ruled by non-Christians and reduce people to perpetual servitude. It helped give a Christian...
Romanus Pontifex reaffirmed Portuguese claims to navigation, conquest, and trade along the West African coast, including claims over people whom Portuguese forces captured. The document connected...
Sublimis Deus declared Indigenous peoples rational and capable of Christian faith and condemned their enslavement. Its protection was limited and repeatedly undermined by colonial practice, and it did...
