Signed by Spain and Portugal on 1750, concerning their empires and status of their territories of what is now Brazil
Spain and Portugal abandoned prior papal and treaty divisions of the New World, redrawing colonial boundaries that shaped modern South America.
Key Facts
- Date signed
- 13 January 1750
- Signatories
- Spain and Portugal
- Primary focus
- Territorial boundaries of Portuguese Brazil and Spanish colonies
- Treaties superseded
- Inter caetera, Tordesillas, and Zaragoza
- Key concession by Portugal
- Recognized Spain's claim to the Philippines
- Key concession by Spain
- Acceded to westward expansion of Brazil
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Decades of territorial conflict between Spain and Portugal in the region of present-day Uruguay created an urgent need for clearly defined colonial boundaries. The existing legal framework — the papal bull Inter caetera and the treaties of Tordesillas and Zaragoza — had proven inadequate for resolving disputes over expanding colonial territories in South America and Asia.
On 13 January 1750, Spain and Portugal concluded the Treaty of Madrid, establishing detailed territorial boundaries between Portuguese Brazil and Spanish colonial holdings to the south and west. Both powers explicitly abandoned the Inter caetera papal bull and the treaties of Tordesillas and Zaragoza, replacing them with mutually agreed limits. The treaty also included a mutual defense clause for their American colonies against third-party attack.
The treaty formalized Brazil's westward expansion beyond the original Tordesillas line and settled longstanding Iberian colonial disputes. By discarding the older papal and treaty framework, it set a precedent for bilateral negotiation as the basis for colonial division, reshaping the territorial foundations of what would become the modern states of South America.
Political Outcome
Established new territorial boundaries between Portuguese Brazil and Spanish colonies; both powers abandoned the Inter caetera bull and earlier Iberian partition treaties in favor of bilaterally negotiated limits.
Colonial division governed by Inter caetera papal bull and the treaties of Tordesillas and Zaragoza
Colonial boundaries governed by bilateral treaty, with Brazil's westward expansion recognized and Spain retaining the Philippines