Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas on June 7, 1494, dividing the New World into Spanish and Portuguese spheres of influence; establishing a new demarcation line between the two crowns, running from pole to pole, 370 leagues to the west of the Cape Verde islands.
The treaty amended papal bulls issued by Pope Alexander VI in 1493. These declarations had granted Spain an exclusive claim to the entirety of North and South America. More The New treaty granted Spain rights to lands to the west and Portugal to the east, an agreement that would later result in Portugal claiming Brazil.
Map by Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (1622)
