Excellent answer. The Portugese, of course, were moving into the area in which the story takes place because of the Treaty of Tordesillas, in which the entire unknown world was divided between Portugal and Spain. The arrogance of these countries in assuming ownership of most of the world and the cruelty in which they carried out their occupations are prime examples of the abuses of power by more developed nations over others.
Portugal and Spain both being seafaring nations and exploring the "New World", both east and west,before other European nations naturally came into conflict. The idea behind the treaty was to solve the potential problem before there was enough exploration to perhaps lead to war. The pope of the day, Alexander VI, was Spanish, and his answer to this political crisis was to simply draw a line on a map and award Spain half the world and the other half to Portugal. Signed in 1494, the Line of Demarcation was some 370 sea miles (leagues) to the west of Cape Verde. The forced conversion and slave labor of native populations by the Spanish and Portuguese resulted in entire peoples being wiped out, such as the native Jamaicans and other Carib Indians.
The story per se has nothing to do with US history, although the arrogance of one nation deciding what is "best" for another people elsewhere in the world does have an obvious lesson for us today.
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