Treaty of Tordesillas

The Treaty of Tordesillas was an important agreement signed in the year 1494. It was made by two powerful European kingdoms, Spain and Portugal. At that time, European sailors were exploring distant oceans and reaching lands unknown to them. These lands were often called the "New World." Spain and Portugal both wanted control over these new areas. The treaty tried to prevent conflict by clearly dividing which lands each kingdom could claim. It was named after the town of Tordesillas, in present-day Spain, where the agreement was signed.

During the late 1400s, European exploration increased quickly. Sailors traveled across the Atlantic Ocean and along the coast of Africa. Portugal had already explored routes around Africa to reach Asia. Spain had supported the voyage of Christopher Columbus, who reached islands in the Caribbean in 1492. When news of these discoveries spread, Spain and Portugal disagreed about who owned the new lands. To settle the dispute, they asked Pope Alexander VI to help. The pope was the head of the Catholic Church and held great influence in Europe at that time. He suggested drawing an imaginary line across the world.

The Treaty of Tordesillas placed this imaginary line, called a line of demarcation, from north to south. A line of demarcation is a boundary that separates areas. It was drawn about 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, which are off the coast of Africa. Lands to the west of the line belonged to Spain. Lands to the east belonged to Portugal. This meant that most of the Americas went to Spain, while Portugal kept control of Africa, Asia, and part of South America. Later, Portugal claimed Brazil because it lay east of the line.

The treaty affected exploration and settlement for many years. Spanish explorers traveled across much of Central and South America. They built colonies, which are settlements controlled by a distant country. Portuguese explorers focused on Africa, Asia, and Brazil. The treaty did not consider the people already living in these lands. Indigenous peoples had lived there for thousands of years. However, European powers at that time did not include them in such agreements. Other European countries, such as England and France, did not accept the treaty and later explored and claimed lands of their own.

Over time, the Treaty of Tordesillas became less important. New maps showed that the world was larger than Europeans first believed. Measuring longitude, or east-west position, was also difficult at the time. This caused confusion about where the line truly lay. In later centuries, new treaties replaced it. Even so, the Treaty of Tordesillas remains an important example of how early European powers tried to divide the world during the Age of Exploration. It shows how political agreements shaped global history in lasting ways.