Treaty of Zaragoza Divides the Pacific

1529

Spain and Portugal, still squabbling over the Spice Islands, drew another meridian around the back of the globe. Spain sold its claim to the Moluccas for three hundred and fifty thousand ducats. The Philippines, technically, were Portuguese, though the Spanish would pretend otherwise soon enough. The impossibility of measuring longitude at sea ensured Spanish and Portuguese empires would continue to overlap in maritime Asia.