Madrid, Treaty of (1670)

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Madrid, Treaty of (1670)

Treaty of (1670) Madrid, agreement between England and Spain that recognized England's possessions in the New World. It was one of a series of treaties between Spain and other European powers recognizing "effective occupation" in return for promises not to trade with Spanish colonies. By 1680 European colonial powers were collaborating in an attempt to restrain the activities of buccaneers. The Treaty of Madrid superceded the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) which had proved unworkable and had been repeatedly violated. The new basis for determining colonial boundaries was effective possessions (at the time of the Treaty of Madrid) rather than prior discovery or an imaginary line.

See alsoTordesillas, Treaty of (1494)xml .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Parry, John Horace. The Spanish Seaborne Empire. Berkeley: University of California, 1990.

                             Suzanne Hiles Burkholder