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Divide and conquer: The folly of territorial rights
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009By David Grigg
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our newest contributor, David Grigg. You will find David’s bio at the end of the post. Suffice it to say that he is from Australia – my favorite country. If I were 30 years younger I would be from there too! PB
Our present world has been shaped by a series of historical accidents that became entrenched in boundaries which now make little sense.
In 1494, Pope Alexander VI settled an argument between the great exploring nations of Spain and Portugal by ruling a line down the middle of the Atlantic. All newly discovered lands to the west of this line would be owned by Spain. Those to the east of the line could be owned by Portugal. The native inhabitants of these places, of course, were not to get much say in this.
At that time, very little of what we now know as the Americas had been discovered. The Pope was not to know that a large part of South America bulges well to the east of his line. But the Portugese quickly discovered that fact and planted a colony there.
So it is that today the people of Brazil speak Portugese, while all the rest of South America speaks Spanish. It’s hard to imagine that situation ever changing.
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Deadly Skyline Towers collapse: Partly inspired 'The Solomon Scandals' novel
Book overview | Buy in E or P
The real collapse"Same dark zeal Hammett held for Frisco or Chandler had for Los Angeles."
Recommended by Washington City Paper and Epublishers Weekly
