The main way through which the Spanish and Portuguese empires channeled their territorial claims in Central and South America was through the Treaty of Tordesillas, an international pact that encompassed religious, political and economic factors to determine the territories of each nation.
Thus, the Treaty of Tordesillas, which was instigated by the Catholic pope of the moment, determined the distribution of the spheres of interest of the two countries at the beginning of the many voyages of discovery, so that Portugal was allotted east of the dividing line, while Spain was allotted west of the line. The western hemisphere was to belong to Spain, while the eastern was to be Portuguese. In this way, the Catholic rulers and John II agreed that conquests could take place on behalf of both states in relation to the already known world.
This treaty on the division of the ocean was an innovation in that it was the first time that a boundary was established that divided both land and sea. This created the background for the contemporary division of South America, where Brazil is Portuguese-speaking, while the other countries are Spanish-speaking.
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