Spain and Portugal Divide the World at Tordesillas
Two Iberian crowns draw a line through the Atlantic and claim everything on either side of it belongs to one or the other
Quick facts
- Signed
- 7 June 1494, Tordesillas
- Parties
- Crown of Castile and Crown of Portugal
- Dividing line
- 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands
- Spanish ratification
- 2 July 1494
What happened
Following Columbus's return, Spain and Portugal negotiated a treaty to settle competing claims over newly found Atlantic lands. Signed at the village of Tordesillas on 7 June 1494 and ratified by Spain on 2 July and by Portugal on 5 September of that year, the treaty drew a north-south line 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. Lands to the east of the line would belong to Portugal, and lands to the west would belong to Spain. The treaty's own text, negotiated in the presence of named representatives of both crowns, records Ferdinand and Isabella's full royal titles across Castile, Leon, Aragon, Sicily, Granada, and their other territories, underscoring how much authority stood behind the agreement.
Why it matters
The line gave Portugal the eastern bulge of South America that became Brazil while reserving the rest of the hemisphere for Spain, a division that shaped the linguistic and colonial map of Latin America for centuries. No other power was consulted, and the treaty's division would later be extended into the Pacific to cover the Philippines, feeding directly into Spain's Manila galleon trade.
How we know
Yale Law School's Avalon Project publishes the full 1494 treaty text as translated from the original, including the ratification dates by both crowns and the description of the dividing line at 370 leagues west of Cape Verde.
Sources
- Yale Law School, The Avalon Project. Treaty between Spain and Portugal, concluded at Tordesillas; June 7, 1494 · Primary source (author-declared)avalon.law.yale.edu · Cited as a "primary" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- World History Encyclopedia. Timeline: Spanish Empire · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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