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Today Tordesillas has about 8,000 inhabitants and, at first sight, nothing invites us to think of a link with America, not least with lands as far away as the Moluccas , the final destination of a mythical journey, of the Homeric Odyssey of the Renaissance. We are in Castilla la Vieja, hard and austere land and little entrepreneur in tourism promotion.

Despite its interesting historical assets and its pleasant landscape, it is not a territory too frequented by travelers, except for those who come to the nearby Parador , a pleasant manor house surrounded by a large pine forest. But it is at this point located about 30 kilometers from Valladolid - the capital of the Kingdom at the time of the Catholic Monarchs and the first Austrias - where many of the keys to this unparalleled journey of whose start in Seville is celebrated the V Centenary.

A small museum without too many pretensions recalls the treaty signed in this noble village on June 7, 1494, by which Spain and Portugal divided the world to know. Negotiations took place in the oldest of these two noble masonry and brick buildings that now house the museum dedicated to the agreement and which stand next to the imposing Church of San Antolin.

Streets of the historic center.

At its door there is a simple plaque that says Museum of the Treaty of Tordesillas. Perhaps too discreet for the relevance of the historical event that took place inside. In addition to these small methacrylate plates next to the door, there are now also on two of the wrought iron balconies of the beautiful main facade two posters announcing the 525 years of signing the agreement.

If one lets the imagination fly, one can believe to see the entourage of the Catholic Monarchs and of Juan II of Portugal through these streets, crossing the bridge over the Douro River, getting to negotiate the treaty by which the world that was being disputed would be distributed and that they didn't even know.

The Duero as it passes through Tordesillas.

ULTRAMAR CONQUERTS

Since the discovery of America, both countries had launched themselves to conquer not only the Atlantic and disputes were frequent. The treaty came to calm the tensions between both powers by agreeing the dividing line of the territories to be discovered in the meridian located 370 leagues (2,054 kilometers) from Cape Verde. As seen in the maps and simple explanations of the museum, all the lands to the west of the meridian would belong to Castilla-Aragón, while those located in the East would correspond to Portugal.

It was the race to reach the Moluccan Islands, or the Specería, and the possibility of reaching them by the southern seas, avoiding Portuguese territory, which encouraged Emperor Carlos I of Spain to finance the expedition of an experienced Portuguese sailor who arrived until his court, Fernando de Magallanes. At that time the spices were worth more than gold, there was already news of them, but Portugal dominated the routes to the East through Africa.

Document and houses where the Treaty was signed.

Confirm that the Moluccas, under the signed pact, fell under Spanish rule and ensure their own route through "the seas of Castile" was the main objective of the expedition and not go around the world, as sometimes thought. The distribution of the world agreed in this noble village dominated by the Duero caused stupor then in Europe. In Paris, King Charles VIII exclaimed indignantly: "Before accepting the cast, I want to be shown in which clause of Adam's will stipulates that the world belongs to the Spaniards and the Portuguese."

The original of the Treaty (the Portuguese version), in fact, is not found here, but in the Archivo de Indias, in Seville, in a safe that only two people have access to. On the occasion of the ephemeris, the valuable document was during three weeks of July in the Houses where it was signed. Other events related to the V Centenary include the theatrical visits organized by the Tourist Office of Tordesillas.

Church-museum of San Antolin.

In this year's edition they are dedicated to remembering this feat, along with those of other characters who have made The Great Journey Around the Earth at different times in history. They will take place in the Houses of the Treaty on August 10 and 17 . No, it is not a bad place Tordesillas to think about these great travelers nor to consider with more ambition and you look at the potential of a tourist destination where the distribution of the world was decided.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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