Britannica
Sources used in this answer
What did the papal bull Dum Diversas authorize Afonso V of Portugal to do?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Nicholas V
Saint Francis of Assisi Appearing Before Pope Nicholas V, with Donors, oil on canvas by Antonio MontĆŗfar, 1628; in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. 107.95 Ć 87.63 cm.
In 1452, Pope Nicholas V issued the papal bull Dum Diversas, which authorized Afonso V of Portugal to conquer "Saracens (Muslims) and pagans" in disputed territories in Africa.1
The decree further empowered the Portuguese monarch to consign these individuals to "perpetual servitude". Historians often view this edict, along with the subsequent 1455 bull Romanus Pontifex, as a significant factor that facilitated the Portuguese slave trade from West Africa and provided a religious justification for the European colonization of the African continent.1