Western Civilization I / Unit 16 WC1 1507 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Tordesillas, 1494: Dividing the Globe
Captions available
The idea
The Treaty of Tordesillas in fourteen ninety-four moved a papal line about eleven hundred miles west of Cape Verde, the anchor's figure: Portugal east, Spain west, which gave Portugal Brazil. Vespucci's accounts named America.
In practice
Two Catholic kingdoms partitioning oceans neither had crossed.
Where people slip
The line explains Brazil's language. Learn it for the map.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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