1494 Audiobook Libro.fm

Description

When Columbus triumphantly returned from America to Spain in 1493 his discoveries inflamed an alreadysmoldering conflict between Spains renowned monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella and Portugals Joo II Which nation was to control the worlds oceans To quell the argument Pope Alexander VI issued a proclamation laying the foundation for the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494 an edict that created an imaginary line in the Atlantic Ocean dividing the entire known and unknown world between Spain and Portugal

Just as the worlds oceans were about to be opened by Columbuss epochal voyage the treaty sought to limit the seas to these two favored Catholic nations The edict was to have a profound influence on world history it propelled Spain and Portugal to superpower status steered many other European nations on a collision course and became the central grievance in two centuries of international espionage piracy and warfare The treaty also began the fight for the freedom of the seasthe epic struggle to determine whether the worlds oceans and thus global commerce would be controlled by the decree of an autocrat or be open to the ships of any nationa distinctly modern notion championed in the early seventeenth century by the Dutch legal theorist Hugo Grotius whose arguments became the foundation of international law