Treaty of Tordesillas Timeline

The earliest Aragonese opinion on the location of the demarcation line was provided by Jaime Ferrer in 1495 at the request of Ferdinand and Isabella, part of ongoing efforts to determine exactly where the treaty's meridian fell.

Image source: Jaime Ferrer

The earliest surviving Portuguese opinion on the demarcation is found on the Cantino planisphere of 1501 or 1502, generally considered to represent the Portuguese standard map of its day.

Image source: Cantino planisphere

In 1518, another Castilian opinion on the demarcation was provided by Martin Fernández de Enciso as Spain and Portugal continued to contest the precise placement of the treaty's dividing line.

In 1524, the Castilian mathematician Tomás Durán and pilots Sebastian Cabot and Juan Vespucci gave their opinion to the conference at Badajoz, whose failure to resolve the dispute led to the Treaty of Zaragoza.

Image source: Badajoz massacre

The 1529 Diogo Ribeiro map—generally considered to represent the now-lost Spanish standard map used to finalize the agreement at Zaragoza—placed its own delineation of the Tordesillas agreement much further west, around 49°45′ W.

Image source: Diogo Ribeiro

The treaty's Islas de las Velas (Islands of the Sails), likely the Marianas, appeared in a 1585 Spanish history of China, Plancius's 1594 world map, Linschoten's 1598 London edition, and Kærio's 1607 map, identified as a north–south chain in the northwest Pacific also called the Islas de los Ladrones.

Image source: Mariana Islands

Spain changed the name of the Islas de los Ladrones (Islands of the Thieves) to 'Islas de las Marianas' (Mariana Islands) in 1667; the chain includes Guam at its southern end, whose longitude closely matched the treaty's 17° east of the Moluccas.

Portugal's discovery of the highly valued Moluccas in 1512 caused Spain to argue in 1518 that the Treaty of Tordesillas divided the earth into two equal hemispheres, opening a new dispute over the far side of the world.

Image source: Maluku Islands

After the surviving ships of Magellan's fleet visited the Moluccas in 1521, Spain claimed that those islands were within its western hemisphere under the Treaty of Tordesillas, intensifying the rivalry over the spice trade.

Image source: Magellan expedition

The Portuguese built Forte de São João Baptista de Ternate on the southwest coast of the principal Moluccan island during 1522–23. Under the Treaty of Zaragoza, the fort could only be repaired, not modified.

Image source: Fort Kastela

The Treaty of Vitoria, negotiated between Spain and Portugal on 19 February 1524, called for the Junta of Badajoz to meet in an attempt to reach an agreement on the antimeridian, which ultimately failed.

Signed on 22 April 1529 between Charles I of Spain and John III of Portugal, the Treaty of Zaragoza specified the antimeridian to the Tordesillas line, with Spain relinquishing claims to the Moluccas for payment of 350,000 ducats of gold by Portugal.

Image source: Treaty of Zaragoza

By 1542, Charles V decided to colonize the Philippines, judging that Portugal would not protest because the archipelago had no spices, effectively pushing past the limits implied by the Iberian treaties.

Image source: History of the Philippines

King Philip II succeeded in 1565 when he sent Miguel López de Legazpi and Andrés de Urdaneta, establishing the initial Spanish trading post at Cebu, extending Spain's Pacific empire despite the earlier division agreements.

Image source: Miguel López de Legazpi

Following the establishment of Cebu, Spain founded Manila in 1571, consolidating its colonial presence in the Philippines and anchoring its trans-Pacific empire that stretched from the Americas across the antimeridian.

Image source: Manila

Even when Spain and Portugal were united under a single king between 1580 and 1640, the divided possessions sanctioned by the Treaty of Tordesillas continued to be observed by both empires.

Image source: Iberian Union

On January 13, 1750, Kings John V of Portugal and Ferdinand VI of Spain signed the Treaty of Madrid establishing borders between Brazil and Spanish America, admitting that the Treaty of Tordesillas had been superseded and was considered void.

Image source: Treaty of Madrid (13 January 1750)

Following the Guarani War, the 1750 Treaty of Madrid was annulled by Spain and Portugal in the Treaty of El Pardo (1761), reviving older territorial arrangements in South America.

The border between Spanish and Portuguese America was eventually settled in the First Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1777, with Spain acquiring territories east of the Uruguay River and Portugal gaining territories in the Amazon Basin.

Image source: First Treaty of San Ildefonso

The Treaty of Tordesillas was invoked by Chile in the 20th century to defend the principle of an Antarctic sector extending along a meridian to the South Pole, asserting that the treaty made Spanish or Portuguese all undiscovered land south to the Pole.

Image source: Territorial claims in Antarctica