Tordesillas, Treaty of

Agreement reached in 1494 when Castile and Portugal divided the uncharted world between themselves. An imaginary line was drawn 370 leagues west of the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands, with Castile receiving all lands discovered to the west, and Portugal those to the east.

The treaty was negotiated because Portugal was unhappy with Spanish pope Alexander VI's four papal bulls of 1493 about a monopoly of navigation and conquest, which were more favourable to Spain.