The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas divided newly discovered lands between Spain and Portugal, granting Spain lands to the west of an imaginary line 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, and Portugal lands to the east. However, geographic knowledge was uncertain, and the division proved imprecise and a source of conflict. The treaty was later modified in 1529 by the Treaty of Zaragoza to continue the meridian onto the other side of the globe at 145 degrees east, in an attempt to more clearly define territorial divisions as European exploration expanded globally. Still, military might ultimately determined control, as Spain refused to relinquish the Philippines despite it falling under Portugal's sphere of influence until 1898 when the U.S. took

1. BILINGUAL PROGRAMME
Subject: History of Spain
Teacher: Carmen Molina Povea
Language assistant: Rubén Díaz

2. A modification of the papal Bull of Demarcation issued in 1493 by Pope
Alexander VI, the Treaty of Tordesillas (June 7, 1494) divided the recently
discovered New World between its two signatories, Spain and Portugal.
The treaty created an imaginary pole-to-pole meridian in the Atlantic Ocean
370 leguas west of the Cape Verde Islands, granting all lands west of the
demarcation line to Spain, and all lands east of it to Portugal.
In this era of uncertain geographic knowledge, both sides recognized that the
division was imprecise and unlikely to prevent future conflict. Spain reckoned
that the newly discovered Indies (Caribbean) fell well within its sphere of
dominion, while Portugal was mainly interested in securing its sea route to
Asia around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.
Notably, the treaty was concluded six years before the Portuguese, under
Pedro Álvares Cabral, discovered Brazil (1500), though once Brazil was on the
map, there was little doubt that the land fell under Portugal’s jurisdiction.

3. Thornier problems arose once it became clear that the Indies (Americas) lay
between Europe and Asia, a fact that became clear after Portuguese navigator
Vasco de Gama’s journey to India and back in 1497–99, Spanish explorer
Vasco Núñez de Balboa’s discovery of the Pacific Ocean in 1513, and
Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan’s journey to the Pacific around the
southern tip of South America in 1520 in the service of Spain. In the wake of
these advances in Europe’s knowledge, Portugal refused to abide by a treaty
that essentially granted all of Asia to its Iberian rival.
Thus, following a series of armed conflicts in the Moluccas and elsewhere in
the Pacific, the Treaty of Tordesillas was modified in 1529 in the Treaty of
Zaragoza, which continued the meridian established in 1494 onto the other
side of the globe, to a position of 145 degrees east.
Still, the reality remained that military might effectively determined who got
what—illustrated for example by the case of the Philippines, which clearly fell
within Portugal’s sphere, yet the Spanish first colonized and refused to
relinquish until the United States took the island-colony in 1898.

4. Seen in a broader context, the Treaty of Tordesillas represents the earliest
instance of European powers’ carving up the globe among themselves in
pursuit of their own domestic, strategic, and imperial designs, a tradition
that continued well into the 19th century and after.

5. Questions
1. Why do you think the line on the right was established after the two
lines to the left?
2. The treaty describes all lands west of the line as part of ……………..
3. What was Portugal’s main focus on?
4. Briefly describe why the lines weren’t effective and why it was
moved further west.
5. What occurred in 1500 that had a big impact on the Treaty?
6. What was one reason why later on the treaty wasn’t effective
anymore?
7. The Treaty of Tordesillas had been a modification of the papal Bull
of Demarcation (1493). What other treaty modified the Treaty of
Tordesillas and what did it establish?
8. Why did Spain refuse to relinquish the Philippines and until what
year was it a Spanish colony?
9. What does the Treaty of Tordesillas represent when it comes to
European power?
10. Describe one positive affect that the Treaty had on Spain and
Portugal.
Source: http://epicworldhistory.blogspot.com.es/2012/04/treaty-of-tordesillas.html
Picture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Spain_and_Portugal.png