On this day (June 7, 1494) Spain and Portugal divided the world between the two nations
1 min readJun 7, 2019
The Treaty of Tordesillas signed at Tordesillas on June 7, 1494, and authenticated at Setúbal, Portugal, divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between the Portuguese Empire and the Crown of Castile, along with a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa. This line of demarcation was about halfway between the Cape Verde islands, and the islands entered by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage, named in the treaty as Cipangu and Antilia (Cuba and Hispaniola).
