Analysis of a map: TORDESILLAS TREATY

1. CLASSIFICATION:

-Type of map:

It is a political and situation map of the world in which we can see Spain (in that period Spain didn’t exist, and there were two different kingdoms: the crowns of Castile and Aragon) and Portugal highlighted; we can also see the territories that belonged to each crown according to the treaty signed in that date.

-Title: Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494.

-Geographic space represented:

On the map are represented three different continents, Europe, where Portugal and Spain (Crowns of Castile and Aragon) are prominent, Africa and America (North and South America) when it was discovered. In the map we can also see Greenland and the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean.

-Chronological period: last decade of the 15th century, 1494, during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs.

2. DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

-Description:

On the map we can observe the kingdoms of Portugal and Spain (formed by the crown of Castile and the crown of Aragon) and the two dividing lines that were established after the discovery of America, the yellow one was established by the Pope Alexander VI in 1493, and the (other) blue one was made due to an agreement between the King of Portugal and the Catholic Monarchs in1494.

As we can observe, with the line drew in 1493, Castile acquired most of the lands located in America, including the Caribbean Islands such as Cuba or the present Haiti and Dominican Republic between much others, that’s because when the Catholic Monarchs signed the agreement thought that there wasn’t any land in Portugal’s side, but they were wrong, because there was a part located in the south-east part of the continent, the territories where present Brazil is located, which belonged to the crown of Portugal, and that is the reason why Brazilian people speak Portuguese.

-Analysis:

The process of the conquest of America created some problems between the Kingdoms of Castile and Portugal.

With the bull Inter Caetera, issued by Pope Alexander VI (who was a Borgia from the crown of Aragon and was ally with the Catholic Monarchs), the lands were distributed between Portugal and Castile according to a line drawn in the meridian located 100 leagues away from the West of Cape Verde Islands.

As the King Juan II of Portugal didn’t agree with the line, he signed a new agreement with the Catholic Monarchs, drawing a new line 370 leagues West of Cape Verde Islands, all the lands to the East would belong to Portugal and all the lands to the West would be for Castile. This way, the Portuguese monarch made sure that all the lands in Africa and archipelagos on its coasts would be for Portugal.

Christopher Columbus “discover” the Indies. The Catholic Monarchs gave him 2 million maravedis and paid for two of the three caravels. Before starting his voyage, the Catholic Monarchs and Columbus signed a contract, Capitulations of Santa Fe, which included the titles of viceroy, admiral of the Ocean Sea and 10% of the wealth discovered.

Until his third voyage, he didn’t reach the American continent. He was sent to prison due to his lies to the Catholic Monarchs, but later he was released and did other voyages.

Americo Vespuccis was the one who realized that the lands discovered were a new continent and Martin Wadsemuller’s map baptized the new lands as America.

In 1479 was signed the treaty of Alçaocas, which includes some articles related with this map, such as the recognition of Portugal’s sovereignty over the territories they had conquered in Africa and the Portuguese recognized Castile’s sovereignty over the Canary Islands. After the Treaty of Tordesillas, this agreement was kept by Portugal and the Catholic Monarchs, but there were other kingdoms that also established established colonies there in the 16^th-17^th centuries.

3. CONCLUSION

In this case the map reflects the conflicts between distribution of new lands or areas of expedition between Castile and Portugal, and the intervention of the Catholic Church with the bull signed by the Pope with the objective of solving the problem. We can see also the discomfort of the King of Portugal, who wanted to assure the territories Portugal had in Africa, what made the Catholic Monarchs sign a new agreement with him.

As for the historical significance of the map, we can relate it to the lands that were conquered by the Castilian conquerors, where nowadays Spanish is spoken, because the conquerors imposed it, as the same happened with religion, indigenous people had to acquire the Castilian culture, which included the language and the religion, that’s why in these countries, such as Peru, Colombia, Mexico or Venezuela there are many Catholic people, as a remain of the conquests.

We can also relate the map with the lands conquered by Portugal, which include Brazil, where people speak Portuguese instead of Spanish, because those lands were conquered by Portuguese conquerors instead of Castilian conquerors.

PILAR QUIRÓS INIESTA