On this day, June 7, in 1497

The Treaty of Tordesillas was signed under Pope Alexander VI, in an attempt to ease the conflict between the two main colonial powers of the time, Spain and Portugal. The two countries had been constantly fighting over territories in a race to accumulate more land. The treaty drew a dividing line on a meridian between Africa and South America, effectively splitting the world in half and giving the eastern half to Portugal and the Western half to Spain. The mentality that allowed the pope to do this really puts the 500 year legacy of western colonialism in perspective.