Divided newly discovered non-European lands between Portugal and Castile along a fixed meridian, shaping centuries of colonial expansion.
Key Facts
- Date signed
- 7 June 1494
- Demarcation meridian
- 370 leagues west of Cape Verde islands
- Ratified by Portugal
- 5 September 1494
- Ratified by Pope Julius II
- 24 January 1506
- UNESCO Memory of the World
- Added in 2007
- Complementary treaty
- Treaty of Zaragoza, 22 April 1529
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Following Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage and competing Iberian claims to newly encountered Atlantic lands, Pope Alexander VI issued a bull attempting to divide these territories. Portugal objected to its terms, prompting direct negotiation between the two crowns to establish a mutually accepted boundary.
On 7 June 1494, Portugal and Castile signed the Treaty of Tordesillas in Spain, drawing a line of demarcation 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands. Lands east of the line were assigned to Portugal and lands west to Castile, superseding the earlier papal bull. Spain ratified the treaty on 2 July and Portugal on 5 September 1494.
The treaty provided the legal framework under which Portugal claimed Brazil and extensive African and Asian territories, while Castile claimed most of the Americas. Decades later the Treaty of Zaragoza extended the division to the opposite hemisphere. Other European powers largely ignored the agreement, but Portugal and Spain observed it as the basis of their colonial empires.
Political Outcome
Portugal received lands east of the meridian (including Brazil and Africa); Castile received lands to the west (most of the Americas).
Overlapping and contested Iberian claims to newly discovered Atlantic lands under an ambiguous papal bull
Formally partitioned non-European world between Portugal and Castile along a fixed meridian, legitimised by papal ratification