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The Treaty of Tordesillas defined which areas of the new world that belonged to Spain and Portugal.
The treaty established the line of demarcation between the lands the Spanish and Portuguese could colonize.
The Treaty of Tordesillas between the Spanish and the Portuguese, was to clear up confusion on newly claimed land in the New World following Christopher Columbus's finding of a New World. The early 1400s brought about great advances in European exploration. In order make trade more efficient, Portugal attempted to find a direct water route to the India and China. By using a direct water route, Arab merchants, who owned land trade routes, were not able to make a profit off of the European trade merchants. After Columbus founded the New World in 1492, it was clear that conflict would soon arise over land claims by Spain and Portugal as the Portuguese wanted to protect their monopoly on the trade route to Africa. It was only after the realization that Columbus had found something big, that land became the important issue as it became a potential goldmine. for all European nations.
The Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494 was a treaty that divided all the newly discovered lands outside of Europe between Spain and Portugal.

The line of demarcation was roughly halfway between the Cape Verde Islands (discovered by the Portuguese in 1462) and the islands recently discovered by Columbus The Land to the east of this line were to belong to the Portuguese and land to the west were Spanish.

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