Thursday, July 2, 2026

抵抗をやめ、別れを告げる

Well, Spain just advanced in the World Cup, so why not:

The Treaty of Tordesillas, signed in Tordesillas, Spain, on 7 June 1494, and ratified in Setúbal, Portugal, divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Crown of Castile, along a meridian 370 leagues (1,281 mi; 2,062 km) west of the Cape Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa. That line of demarcation was about halfway between Cape Verde (already Portuguese) and the islands visited by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage (claimed for Castile and León), thought then to be Cipangu and Antillia, but in fact Cuba and Hispaniola; the treaty itself does not mention Cipangu or Antillia.

The lands to the east would belong to Portugal and the lands to the west to Castile, modifying an earlier bull by Pope Alexander VI. The treaty was created on 7 June 1494, then ratified by Spain on 2 July 1494, by Portugal on 5 September 1494, and by Pope Julius II on 24 January 1506. The other side of the world was divided a few decades later by the Treaty of Zaragoza, signed on 22 April 1529, which specified the antimeridian to the line of demarcation specified in the Treaty of Tordesillas. Portugal and Spain largely respected the treaties, while the Indigenous peoples of the Americas did not acknowledge them.

As noted in the Wikipedia article, it was the later Zaragoza anti-meridian that explicitly divided Asia (to resolve the "Moluccas issue"), but seeing the Tordesillas meridian come up On This Date immediately made me think of Shōgun.  I think that's due for another rewatch very soon.  And that's all I've got to say about that.

<exits singing, a line of demarcation, line of demarcation, line of demarcation, liiiiine, liiiiine>


UPDATE: Portugal has also advanced.  And they'll be playing each other.

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