The Pope Line

 

   Portuguese is the ninth most spoken language in the world based on the number of native speakers. But if Portuguese was not spoken in Brazil, it would barely make the top 100 languages and would be ranked with Uighur, Sylheti, and Min Dong Chinese. But why did Brazil end up speaking Portuguese while most of the rest of South America speaks Spanish? 

   I learned the answer in 6th grade when Sister John the Baptist pulled down a map of South America and drew a north-south line down the middle of the continent. On one side of the line was Brazil. Everything else was on the other side. "Boys and girls," sister told us, "his excellency the pope drew that line back in 1494 to prevent a war between Spain and Portugal. Let us give thanks."

   We young people had short attention spans so sister didn't bore us with details such as that the pope (Alexander VI) was Spanish and that the pope's original line was drawn in the middle of the Atlantic which would have given Spain everything in the New World. It's not quite as nefarious as it sounds. Columbus had just made his first discoveries only two years earlier. No one had any idea what lay beyond the Bahamas, Cuba, and Haiti. They presumed Japan was where Florida is.

   Portugal was actually more interested in Africa and India. But Spain was worried that the Portuguese would turn to the west and the Portuguese had a better navy. That's when the pope stuck his oar in. He issued two papal bulls which gave all new discoveries to Spain. This got Portugal upset because it would have cancelled her plans to take over India. Nowadays, the pope has great spiritual authority. Back then he had temporal power as well. Portugal and Spain began negotiations between themselves.

   On this day in 1494, Spain signed a treaty in the town of Tordesillas. The treaty was signed in Portugal in September. The treaty granted to Spain the islands Columbus had already visited. It also moved the pope's line about 850 miles to the west. Portugal wanted this buffer to protect its trade route down the coast of Africa, but moving the line also gave Portugal a good chunk of Brazil. Had the pope been a bit more diplomatic and not stirred up the Portuguese, they'd be speaking Spanish in Brazil today. 

   This brings up the question if Spanish and Portuguese are mutually understandable languages. If a Spaniard slows down his or her spiel, a Portuguese can understand most of what is being said. And if a Portuguese speaks distinctly, the same goes for a Spaniard.

Viva!