The History of the World Podcast, written and presented by Chris Hasler. This is a special episode of the History of the World Podcast on the Elizabethan Sea Dogs. Oh, Today's episode takes us to the country of England during the 16th century and heavily

involves the realm of the United Crowns of Castile and Aragon which we recognize as the new imperial regime called Spain.

Spain was effectively formed by the unification of these crowns and significant defeat and conquest of the

emirate of Granada in 1492 the last Muslim stronghold in the Iberian

Peninsula and proved to be the foundation of the Catholic powerhouse

of the age of exploration that was Spain.

Naval merchants had become extremely important during the course of the 15th century

as the merchant classes were enjoying more freedom and opportunity than during the medieval centuries when feudal law was more dominant in Western Europe.

Sailors from both Portugal and Spain were attempting to exploit these new opportunities.

Shipbuilding had advanced so that huge three and four-masted vessels capable of traversing the treacherous high seas

and armed with guns to enable them to devastate rival vessels and new lands

were now being built.

The Portuguese were already monopolising the sea trade of the Western African coast, but now the Spanish were investing in voyages of discovery, with one of the most

notable being those of Christopher Columbus from 1492. The Portuguese already having discovered the relatively nearby Cape Verde Islands

around 50 years previous would sign a proposed treaty in 1494 with Spain to agree on a boundary

where the geographical locations of the lands across the Atlantic Ocean should determine whether it be the entitlement of Spain or of Portugal.

Everything within 370 leagues of a Meridian line west of the Cape Verde Islands

would be Portugal's right, and everything beyond would be Spain's.

A league is an archaic unit of measurement,

maybe in this context around 4 to 5 kilometers.

The treaty was called the Treaty of Tordesias. The meridian proposed by the treaty

essentially tells us the origin of why Brazil is the only Portuguese speaking

...