- In the 15th th century, great discoveries are multiplying and the world is expanding. In 1481, Pope Alexander VI reserved to Portugal the monopoly of the discovery of new lands in the bull (document signed by the pope) "æterni regis
- But the glorious return of Christopher Columbus in 1493 changed the situation; the pope divides the world in a new bubble “inter Caetera », replacing the first and entrusting to the Spaniards all the territories west of the Archipelago of the Azores:there is not much left of the new continents for the Portuguese.
June 7, 1494
Characters
Ferdinand II of Aragon
Isabella of Castile
John II
Alexander VI
Procedure
In 1494, the representatives of the two kingdoms met to negotiate the sharing of a still unknown world, leaving aside the other European powers.
The Portuguese manage to negotiate the displacement of the demarcation line of 2,000 km west of Cape Verde:it is a demarcation according to the meridian, from North to South. This is how Brazil, which was not discovered until 1500 by Cabral, was attributed to Portugal.
Consequences
- The colonization of America thus begins with the Treaty of Tordesillas, excluding the other European powers and giving a virtual monopoly of discovery to the crowns of Spain and Portugal.
- Francis I st will obtain from Pope Clement VII a more flexible interpretation of the bull, which would only concern the lands discovered at the time of the signature:this interpretation launches the French expeditions, in particular that of Jacques Cartier.