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Treaty of Tordesillas
Treaty of Tordesillas , 1494, agreement signed at Tordesillas, Spain, by which Spain and Portugal divided the non-Christian world into two zones of influence. In principle the treaty followed the papal bull issued in 1493 by Pope Alexander VI, which fixed the demarcation line along a circle passing ...
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Joanna
Joanna (Joanna the Mad), 1479-1555, Spanish queen of Castile and León (1504-55), daughter of Ferdinand II and Isabella I. She succeeded to Castile and León at the death of her mother. Ferdinand II briefly assumed the regency until he was replaced by Joanna's ambitious husband, Philip...
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John II
John II (John the Perfect), 1455-95, king of Portugal (1481-95), son and successor of Alfonso V. He was an astute politician and statesman and a patron of Renaissance art and learning. He reduced the power of the feudal nobility and had his chief opponent, the duke of Braganza , executed for treas...
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Ferdinand II
Ferdinand II or Ferdinand the Catholic, 1452-1516, king of Aragón (1479-1516), king of Castile and León (as Ferdinand V, 1474-1504), king of Sicily (1468-1516), and king of Naples (1504-16). His father, John II of Aragón, gave him Sicily during his lifetime and left him Ara...
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Alexander VI
Alexander VI 1431?-1503, pope (1492-1503), a Spaniard (b. Játiva) named Rodrigo de Borja or, in Italian, Rodrigo Borgia; successor of Innocent VIII. He took Borja as his surname from his mother's brother Alfonso, who was Pope Calixtus III. Rodrigo became cardinal (1456), vice chancellor of t...
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Pedro Alvares Cabral
Pedro Alvares Cabral , c.1467-c.1520, Portuguese navigator. A friend of Vasco da Gama, in 1500 he was sent out by Manuel I as head of a fleet destined for India. Bartolomeu Dias was one of his officers. Cabral went far west of his course and reached the coast of Brazil, which he claimed for Portug...
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South America
South America fourth largest continent (1991 est. pop. 299,150,000), c.6,880,000 sq mi (17,819,000 sq km), the southern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. It is divided politically into 12 independent countries— Argentina , Bolivia , Brazil , Chile , Colombia , Ecuador , G...
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Portugal
Portugal , officially Portuguese Republic, republic (2005 est. pop. 10,566,000), 35,553 sq mi (92,082 sq km), SW Europe, on the western side of the Iberian Peninsula and including the Madeira Islands and the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean. Portugal is bordered by Spain on the east and north and by...
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Brazil
Brazil , Port. Brasil, officially Federative Republic of Brazil, republic (2005 est. pop. 186,113,000), 3,286,470 sq mi (8,511,965 sq km), E South America. By far the largest of the Latin American countries, Brazil occupies nearly half the continent of South America, stretching from the Guiana Hig...
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Spain
Spain Span. España , officially Kingdom of Spain, constitutional monarchy (2005 est. pop. 40,341,000), 194,884 sq mi (504,750 sq km), including the Balearic and Canary islands, SW Europe. It consists of the Spanish mainland (190,190 sq mi/492,592 sq km), which occupies the major part of the...
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