History · 2

What type of geographic line did the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas use to divide the unseen world between Spain and Portugal?

Answer

A line of longitude

The treaty drew a north-south meridian roughly 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, granting Spain claim to lands west of it and Portugal claim to lands east of it.

💡 Did you know?

The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) split the entire world between Spain and Portugal using a single line of longitude, dividing continents they'd never seen.

Other options people guess

  • A line of latitude
  • A chain of mountain ranges
  • A network of major rivers

Topics

  • treaties
  • exploration
  • age-of-discovery
  • 1490s

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