Cristóvão Colombo e o Tratado de Tordesilhas - História do Brasil - Parte 3

And the race to find a direct route to India continued... After Bartolomeu Dias managed to sail around the South of Africa, sailors were very excited to continue their explorations. Among them was Christopher Columbus, a highly experienced Genoese who was looking for someone to finance his expedition to India. He believed that the Earth was a sphere and, therefore, argued that sailing westward would allow him to reach the East. "My friends, if the Earth were flat, the stars in the sky would always be in the same place. But no! They change position as we sail. What's more, when a ship moves away, the bottom disappears first, as if it were going down a hill. This only makes sense if the Earth is round! If we sail westward, we can reach India faster, circling the world like circling an orange! Let's take on this adventure and prove that the world is much bigger than we think." Christopher Columbus had difficulty obtaining financing for his expeditions. Initially, he was rejected by several European monarchs, including the king of Portugal. But he did not give up. He went to Spain, which provided the necessary funding to make the expedition possible. Three vessels were prepared, and he set out to validate his theories. And on October 12, 1492, the expedition found land, which was named San Salvador. Columbus believed he had reached the Asian continent. Although he was right about the shape of the planet, he did not know that, on the way to the other side of the world, there was a continent right in the middle, right? Despite his feat, Columbus did not want to believe in the possibility that this land was part of a new continent. He maintained throughout his life that he had reached Asia. Years later, Amerigo Vespucci proved that the lands where Columbus arrived were not Asia, but rather a new continent. In his honor, this new discovery was named America. After the discovery of new lands by Christopher Columbus and the confirmation by Amerigo Vespucci that it was a new continent, European nations, especially Portugal and Spain, began to dispute the right to explore and colonize these new lands. To avoid conflict, both countries appealed to Pope Alexander VI, who mediated a historic agreement known as the Treaty of Tordesillas. The agreement established an imaginary line 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, dividing the non-European world between the two powers. According to the treaty, all lands east of this line would be Portugal's, while all lands west of it would be Spain's. This division had a profound impact on the exploration and colonization of the Americas, Africa, and Asia. For Portugal, this meant control over the African coast, sea routes to India and the territory of Brazil, where Pedro Álvares Cabral would later arrive in 1500. For Spain, the treaty guaranteed vast regions of the Americas, including the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and much of South America. This imaginary line would have lasting consequences for the languages, cultures and borders of the countries we know today. For example, because of this treaty and the explorations, we speak Portuguese in Brazil and not Spanish. This happened because Brazil was colonized by Portugal, not by Spain. The problem is that the world is very big and other nations, such as England, France and the Netherlands, also wanted to explore and conquer lands. They did not like this idea of ​​dividing the world only between Spain and Portugal. And what did they do? They ignored the treaty and began to explore and conquer lands too, pretending that this line did not even exist! And so the world became a big mess of who owned what. My educational activities store: https://www.elo7.com.br/vilmaribeiro3632 My free activities blog: https://professoravilmaribeiro.blogsp...