The Spanish Empire in the Americas: The History of Spains Colonization across Central America and South America Audiobook Libro.fm

By the time Christopher Columbus started setting east from the New World he had explored San Salvador in the Bahamas which he thought was Japan Cuba which he thought was China and Hispaniola the source of gold As the common story goes Columbus en route back to Spain from his first journey called in at Lisbon as a courtesy to brief the Portuguese King John II of his discovery of the New World King John subsequently protested that according to the 1479 Treaty of Alcovas which divided the Atlantic Ocean between Spanish and Portuguese spheres of influence the newly discovered lands rightly belonged to Portugal To make clear the point a Portuguese fleet was authorized and dispatched west from the Tagus to lay claim to the Indies which prompted a flurry of diplomatic activity in the court of Ferdinand and Isabella At the time Spain lacked the naval power to prevent Portugal from acting on this threat and the result was the hugely influential 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas