treaty of tordesillas summary
King John's rationale to Ferdinand and Isabella was that the Pope's line extends all around the globe, thus limiting Spanish influence in Asia. On June 7, 1494 Spain and Portugal met at Tordesillas, Spain and signed a treaty moved the line 270 leagues west, to 370 leagues west of Cape Verde.This new line (located at approximately 46Â° 37') gave Portugal more claim to South America yet also provided Portugal with automatic control over most of the Indian Ocean.hile it would be several hundred years before the line of the Treaty of Tordesillas could be accurately determined (due to problems determining longitude), Portugal and Spain kept to their sides of the line quite well. Portugal ended up colonizing places like Brazil in South America and India and Macau in Asia.