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Hegemony and Rivalries
Portugal and Spain enjoyed Iberian hegemony over a large part of the world.
Year: 1494
The Portuguese Discoveries throughout the 15th century and the Spanish Discoveries after the arrival of Columbus at the Antilles in 1492 led to Iberian hegemony over a large part of the world’s surface. This was sanctioned by papal edicts and rendered formal through the signature of the Treaty of Tordesilhas in 1494.
With this agreement, Dom João II and the Catholic Kings established an imaginary demarcating line of the areas of influence between Portugal and Spain, drawn 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. The eastern part, reserved to Portugal, was to include Brazil, the African coast, and vast regions of Asia. The treaty reflects a rivalry later surfacing in the question of the Moluccas resulting from the voyage around the world by Fernão de Magalhâes (Magellan).
During most of the 16th century, Europe followed the pioneering accomplishments of the Portuguese throughout the world with great interest and curiosity. Only in the late 16th century was the Portuguese monopoly of navigation to the East challenged by the Dutch and British, who, throughout the 17th century, destroyed Portuguese hegemony in the Indian Ocean and in a large part of Africa.
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