Pope Alexander VI divided the world in half on June 7, 1494, bestowing the
western portion on Spain, and the eastern half on Portugal. (Awesome, isn't it?
The world seemed to belong only to two small European countries in the
Iberian Peninsula, even as Butuan was already actively trading with China some
500 years before that time.)
Matters might have turned out differently if the Pontiff had not been a
Spaniard, but he was. Born near Valencia, his name was Rodrigo de Borja before
he became Pope. A lawyer by training, he assumed the Borgia name when his
maternal uncle, Alfonso Borgia, began his brief reign as Pope Callistus III.
As his lineage suggests, Pope Alexander VI was a rather secular Pope, among
the wealthiest and most ambitious men in Europe, fond of his many mistresses
and his illegitimate offspring, and endowed with sufficient energy and ability
to indulge his worldly passions.
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabela, the "Catholic Monarchs" of Spain, wanted the
Pope's blessings to protect the recent discoveries made by Cristopher Columbus,
the Genoese navigator who claimed a new world for Spain. Portugal, Spain's
chief rival for control of world trade, threatened to assert its own claim to
the newly discovered lands, so did England and France. (Kara-an ba toni nga
estorya ining pag hari-hari, pag elog-elog hong bahandi ug lupa nga dili ila.)
Pope Alexander VI responded by issuing Papal Bulls - solemn edicts -
establishing a line of demarcation between Spanish and Portugese around the
globe. The line extended from the north pole to the south pole. The Pope
granted Spain exclusive rights to those parts of the globe that lay to the west
of the line; the Portugese were supposed to keep to the east. (Dili masabtan
kung di-in ga gikan ang gahum ni Pope Alexander VI nga amorang iya ba ang
kalibutan.)
There was bickering over the line's location; diplomats from both countries
convened in the little town of Tordesillas, in northwestern Spain, to work out
a compromise. The debate between Spain and Portugal over the line dragged on
for years. (Malisud gid magka-oyon ang mga mingangkon hong dili ila, ka-aslag
ra ba kunta haning kalibutan nga gibahin-bahin nila. Boga o hakog siguro ang
isa nga basi mas maaslag ang makawa hong kontra.)
Pope Alexander VI died in 1503, and he was succeeded by Pope Julius II, who in
1506 agreed to changes in the demarcation line, and finally the Treaty of
Tordesillas achieved its final form.
A generation after Columbus, King Charles I pursued further the Spanish quest
to establish a global empire. He recognized that the Indies could provide
priceless merchandise, and the most precious commodity of all was spices.
Spices played an essential economic role in civilizations since antiquity.
Like oil today, the European quest for spices drove the world's economy and
influenced global politics. (Spices o panakot, oil o petrolio, pero kwarta ug
kahakug gid ang tinuod nga rason. And consequently, peoples and cultures were
forever adversely affected.) Like oil today, spices became inextricably
intertwined with imperialism, exploration and conquest. The mere mention of
myrrh, white and black pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, frankincense, cassia, mace,
and cloves, evoked the wonders of the Orient and the mysterious East.
Europe in the 16th century was in the grip of the Little Ice Age, Spain and
Portugal was far too cold, and too dry to cultivate the spices. "You may be
able to take our plants, but you will never be able to take our rain", you will
never be able to grow them, boasted an Oriental trader.
And so it was that in 1521, Butuanons discovered white men coming ashore in
Masao, even as conventional history states that is was the other way around,
that the Philippines was discovered by the Spaniards. And notwithstanding the
fact that their leader, Ferdinand Magellan was killed by a Mactan chieftain
several days later, Spain went on to conquer and rule our islands. We became a
colony of Imperial Spain for 400 years. And all because of panakot for the
European palate. And because our isles happened to be on their side of the
imaginary line drawn by the Pope half a world away.
(Source: Over the Edge of the World, Laurence Bergreen. HarperCollins, 2004)
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