Latest / The Rise of Colonialism: How Europe Divided the World — Fexingo History / Treaty of Tordesillas: The Papal Line That Split the World
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've been talking a lot about how the British and French carved up India in the 18th century, but the very first time Europe sat down to divide the entire non-Christian world actually happened way earlier — 1494, to be precise. That's the Treaty of Tordesillas, signed between Spain and Portugal with a little help from the Pope. Luna: Wait, the Pope was involved in drawing borders? Lucas: Absolutely. This was right after Columbus's first voyage, and both Spain and Portugal were anxious to claim the new lands. The Pope at the time was Alexander VI — a Borgia, by the way, not exactly a saint — and he issued a series of papal bulls in 1493, the most famous being Inter caetera. That bull basically said any lands not already ruled by a Christian prince could be claimed by Spain or Portugal, and it drew a line down the Atlantic. Lucas: But King John II of Portugal wasn't happy with the original line — it was too far east for him. He wanted to protect his route around Africa to India. So the two countries negotiated directly, and the result was the Treaty of Tordesillas, signed on June 7, 1494. They moved the line 270 leagues further west. Luna: So that's why Brazil speaks Portuguese instead of Spanish? Lucas: Exactly. That westward shift ended up putting the eastern tip of South America — what would become Brazil — on Portugal's side. At the time, they had no idea Brazil existed. It was only discovered six years later by Pedro Álvares Cabral, who was supposedly blown off course while heading to India. But now historians think Portugal may have already known about it and deliberately pushed the line. Lucas: So the treaty gave Portugal a claim to Brazil, and Spain got the rest of the Americas. But the line also went around the globe — they split the whole world. Of course, they had no idea what was actually on the other side, so the line was just a meridian in the Atlantic. The other side of the world wasn't resolved until the Treaty of Zaragoza in 1529. Luna: Because of the spice islands? Lucas: Right. The Moluccas, or the Spice Islands, were incredibly valuable for nutmeg and cloves. After Magellan's expedition, both Spain and Portugal claimed them. In 1529, they signed the Treaty of Zaragoza, which drew another line east of the Moluccas, giving the islands to Portugal for a payment of 350,000 ducats to Spain. It was basically the first global land grab. Lucas: What's fascinating is that these treaties were largely ignored by other European powers — the French, English, Dutch — who didn't recognize the Pope's authority. But for almost a century, Spain and Portugal actually tried to enforce them, and they shaped the languages and cultures of entire continents. Brazil, for instance, is a direct result of that 1494 line. Luna: It's amazing how a piece of paper drawn up in a Spanish town decided the fate of millions. Lucas: Honestly, if today's conversation about that very treaty was worth a coffee to you, consider supporting us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Just the smallest thing keeps the show ad-free and lets us keep digging into these stories. Luna: Yeah, it really helps. And we're back to the treaty — so the line was defined in leagues, not degrees? How did they even measure that? Lucas: Great question. A league was about 3 nautical miles, but the exact length varied. The treaty said the line should run 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. But without accurate longitude measurements, no one could actually determine where the line was in practice. Ships just sort of guessed, and it led to endless disputes. Lucas: The funny thing is, the treaty didn't stop conflicts. Portugal and Spain kept arguing about the line for decades, even after the Treaty of Zaragoza. And other powers like the Dutch East India Company later ignored the whole thing and carved out their own empires in the very same region. Luna: So the Treaty of Tordesillas was Europe's first attempt to divide the world, but it didn't really work in the long run. Lucas: Not in the long run, no. But it set a precedent: that European nations could claim vast territories simply by signing a treaty and getting papal approval. That idea would be used again and again — in the Berlin Conference of 1884, for example, when Africa was carved up. So the legacy of Tordesillas is really the whole concept of colonial partition. Lucas: And for the people already living in those lands — Indigenous Americans, Africans, Asians — the treaty meant their territories were being traded back and forth without their consent. It's a stark reminder of how colonialism operated from the very beginning. Luna: That's a heavy note to end on, but it's important. Lucas: Yeah, it's one of those episodes where you realize how arbitrary these imperial lines were. Next time we'll look at another treaty that redrew maps — the Treaty of Paris 1763, which ended the Seven Years' War and reshaped North America and India. Until then, thanks for listening.