6. When the world was divided into two

In today’s world, we talk of the economic powers of the Chinese, Americans, the British and some G7 / G8 nations. Like many Indians, I have also been influenced by the political power of the British who ruled the sub-continent; infact, we look upon Britishers to be the biggest colonizers.

While doing my research on historical trivia, I came across a strange Treaty which blows up our conventional thinking towards colonialism. More than five centuries ago, the world was divided by an imaginary line between two super-powers of that time i.e Spain and Portugal (represented by King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile for Spain and King John II of Portugal). Yes, On June 7, 1494, the governments of Spain and Portugal agreed to the Treaty of Tordesillas, which divided their spheres of influence in the "New World" of the Americas.

Do not go by the size of Portugal as we see on the map today. By size, it is smaller than the state of Bihar. Then, it had influence over the entire Eastern hemisphere. It had outposts across the coastline of entire Africa, India, Indonesia and some ports of China. They were leaders in the world of exploration.

Spanish tried to reach China without going through the Portugese outposts for which they dispatched Columbus who unfortunately landed in America rather than India. Portugal and Spain were keen to exploit the new found lands (read gold, new food, slaves). Towards this, rose many conflicts.

Those days, we did not have any international organization. The only institution which came close to an international status was the Pope because of his overwhelming influence across the planet. Both the countries went to him. There are detailed stages before which the final line was drawn. The west of the line belonged to the Spanish and the right to the Portugese.

A line in the Atlantic Ocean, about 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, then controlled by Portugal. All lands east of that line (about 46 degrees, 37 minutes West) were claimed by Portugal. All lands west of that line were claimed by Spain.

Spain and Portugal adhered to the treaty without major conflict, and the results linger throughout the Americas today. Most Latin American nations are Spanish-speaking countries, for instance, but Portuguese is the leading official language in Brazil. This is because the eastern tip of Brazil penetrates the line agreed to in the Treaty of Tordesillas, so the region was colonized by Portugal.

No British, no French, no German, it was Spanish and Portugese. We are aware of many conflicts arising because of bifurcation of countries; imagine they divided the globe. Does it not feel strange today imagining the bifurcation in this order given their minuscule influence on global affairs 5 centuries later.

The treaty became an important reference not only to the Atlantic Ocean history but also to the memory of the world allowing the meeting of continents and civilizations separated by unknown oceans.

Learning: Nothing is permanent and Time is the only supreme commander. It decides who dies, when it happens and what happens next. Humans in their typical ego-centric thoughts, think of creating the impossible and achieving the unheard of, but that shall also wheel away in time.