The New World, Indian Ocean, Tordesillas and the Impact on Europe

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Columbus reached the Caribbean (Hispaniola) in 1492, sailing for Spain. He made four voyages (1492–1504) mapping the Caribbean and Central American coastlines, though he believed he had reached Asia.

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Vespucci sailed South American coasts (1499–1502) and published accounts arguing the Americas were previously unknown continents, not Asia. His name was given to 'America' by cartographers.

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John Cabot was an Italian navigator who sailed for England in 1497, reaching Newfoundland (North America). His voyage gave England its earliest claim to North America, even though it generated no immediate benefit.

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Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope — the southern tip of Africa — proving that a sea route from Europe to the Indian Ocean was possible. This was the critical breakthrough enabling da Gama's later voyage.

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Da Gama sailed around Africa to Calicut (India), returning with spices worth 60 times the cost of the voyage. It gave Portugal direct access to Asian spices, bypassing Ottoman and Venetian middlemen and making Portugal the wealthiest European state for a generation.

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Albuquerque captured key chokepoints: Goa (1510), Malacca (1511) and Hormuz (1515). By controlling these strategic ports, Portugal dominated Indian Ocean trade routes and shut out Muslim competitors.

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A bilateral treaty between Spain and Portugal that drew a line 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. Everything west belonged to Spain; everything east belonged to Portugal. It divided the non-European world between two powers and was backed by papal authority.

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When Cabral accidentally reached Brazil in 1500, his landing point fell east of the Tordesillas line — the Portuguese sphere. This gave Portugal a legal claim to Brazil, which is why Brazil became (and remains) Portuguese-speaking.

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The Columbian Exchange (term coined by historian Alfred Crosby) was the transfer of plants, animals, diseases and people between the Americas and Europe/Africa after 1492. East to West: wheat, horses, cattle, sheep, smallpox, measles, typhus. West to East: maize, potatoes, tomatoes, cacao, tobacco.

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Atlantic and Indian Ocean trade grew at the expense of Mediterranean commerce. Antwerp replaced Venice as Europe's leading commercial hub as Portuguese spices and Atlantic goods were distributed northward. Italian city-states lost the trade advantages they had held for centuries.

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The Price Revolution was sharp inflation across Europe from the mid-16th century, caused mainly by the massive inflow of silver from Spanish American mines (especially Potosí, from 1545). More silver in circulation reduced its value and pushed prices up across the continent.

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Limited. France, England and the Dutch were not party to the treaty and ignored it. John Cabot sailed to Newfoundland for England in 1497 without Spanish consent. The treaty only mattered as long as Spain and Portugal had the military power to enforce it.