The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.
–Marcel Proust

The Papal Bull ‘Inter Caetera’ was issued by Pope Alexander VI in 1493 and it played an important role in solidifying the Spanish rule in the New World. The document enabled Spain to have exclusive rights to the land discovered by Columbus. It further established a line of demarcation one hundred leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands and assigned Spain the right to acquire territorial possessions and to trade in all the lands west of the line. Others were forbidden from entering and approaching the line without special permission from the Spanish ruler. This gave Spain monopoly over the New World and further established the Christian authority. The document prohibited anyone who was not a Christian from ‘discovering’ new land since the religion was used to justify the barbarity of other peoples and was perceived to be the salvation that they must achieve. Thus this doctrine of discovery became the basis of European claims to America, as well as the foundation of the US’ westwards expansion.