The early colonies were expeditions with very vague and arbitrary claims. It was stuff like “We claim 100 miles from this point in each direction and then everything between there and this river and… that mountain.”
Why didn’t they just go “I claim everything unclaimed!”? It’s not like it matters, all that matters is what one is able to reasonably control and defend.
The Pope had kind of done that already a century back. Picked a line in Brazil and said Portugal gets everything East and Castile(Spain) gets everything West.
IIRC Portugal wasn’t aware of the vast landmasses to the west and felt they got the better deal, Spain only getting a sliver of land and some grey areas on the map.
But big papa should have gone “I think it all belongs to the church and if you disagree, you go to hell.” Much like how the church got wealthy in the first place, “Put us in the will and your sins will be forgiven.”
The early colonies were expeditions with very vague and arbitrary claims. It was stuff like “We claim 100 miles from this point in each direction and then everything between there and this river and… that mountain.”
Why didn’t they just go “I claim everything unclaimed!”? It’s not like it matters, all that matters is what one is able to reasonably control and defend.
The Pope had kind of done that already a century back. Picked a line in Brazil and said Portugal gets everything East and Castile(Spain) gets everything West.
Spain won that gamble.
IIRC Portugal wasn’t aware of the vast landmasses to the west and felt they got the better deal, Spain only getting a sliver of land and some grey areas on the map.
But big papa should have gone “I think it all belongs to the church and if you disagree, you go to hell.” Much like how the church got wealthy in the first place, “Put us in the will and your sins will be forgiven.”
I mean the church pretty told it was Portugal and Spain’s job to loot their respective partitions of gold and silver for the church, so yeah.