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During European empire-building overseas, the lines of amity were demarcation lines that distinguished between European states and the rest of the world. The line was generally drawn west of the Canary Islands and south of the Tropic of Cancer. [1] It is often referred to in literature as "the line". [2]
In 1552, as French privateers threatened shipping, the Spanish and Portuguese signed an agreement to protect their fleets in the Indies. [3] In a truce to settle tensions, the French agreed to end trade and navigation in the area. As a part of the 1559 Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis, an oral agreement between Spain and France clarified that the French could navigate west of the 16th-century prime meridian and south of the Tropic of Cancer, but at their own risk. Although the treaty doesn't involve the other European states' competition in the Americas, it laid the precedent for all foreign affairs of the era. [4] To the north and east lay Europe, while to the south and west was the extra-European world.
In 1634, French statesman and member of the Catholic Church Cardinal Richelieu wrote, “lines of the amities and alliances” (French: lignes des amitiés et des alliances) in a memorandum. [5]
When it was drawn, there was disagreement among major European powers over where the line of longitude lay. The line of demarcation drawn by the papal state in 1493 is 100 leagues west of the Azores, whereas the line determined by the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas trends further west. [6] The Treaty aimed to divide territory among Portugal and Spain. Originally, all territory east of about 555 kilometers (345 miles) west of the Cape Verde islands belonged to Portugal, but eventually it moved about 1500 kilometers (932 miles) west in 1506 so that Portugal could claim the east of Brazil. [7]
The lines represented an important tension between Britain and their colonies in the 18th century. [6] The expanse of the Atlantic only furthered the cultural, political, and social differences between Europe and the New World. The lines established a division between domestic European affairs and the happenings in the Americas. Namely, that the turmoil and conflict west of the lines were confined there, whereas the powerful orchestrators of international relations stayed in Europe. [8]
Actions beyond the newly drawn lines of amity would not be considered a violation of international peace. [1] As a result, they exacerbated the legal differences between Europe and its colonies. By separating the conflicts that happened outside of Europe, extraterritorial violence didn't interrupt the peace of interstate treaties. The lines allowed for European powers to declare war and fight for territory overseas while maintaining "amity" at home. [9] This phenomenon is often referred to as: "no peace beyond the line." [10] While primarily fictive and not written in any formal treaty, they effectively created two different systems of foreign relations: that of the European mainland and that of their colonies. [4]
Since international law was void west of the lines, the lines marked a shift in the necessity to maintain negotiations between world powers. The foundations of international order began to be laid when powers dissociated their federal government structures, from that of their colonies. Everyone beyond the lines were subjects, not citizens. [6] The lines forced European politicians and monarchs to question to what extend they should, and were able, to restrict the political freedom and autonomy of colonies thousands of miles away. [1] As a result, both Britain's imperial identity and national institutions are impacted by power-struggles from the age of colonialism.
Portuguese colonization of the Americas constituted territories in the Americas belonging to the Kingdom of Portugal. Portugal was the leading country in the European exploration of the world in the 15th century. The Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 divided the Earth outside Europe into Castilian and Portuguese global territorial hemispheres for exclusive conquest and colonization. Portugal colonized parts of South America, but also made some unsuccessful attempts to colonize North America.
The Treaty of Tordesillas, signed in Tordesillas, Spain, on 7 June 1494, and ratified in Setúbal, Portugal, divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between the Portugal and the Crown of Castile, along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa. That line of demarcation was about halfway between the Cape Verde islands and the islands visited by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage, named in the treaty as Cipangu and Antillia.
The Treaty of Paris, also known as the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763 by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement, following Great Britain and Prussia's victory over France and Spain during the Seven Years' War.
The Treaty of Alcáçovas was signed on 4 September 1479 between the Catholic Monarchs of Castile and Aragon on one side and Afonso V and his son, Prince John of Portugal, on the other side. It put an end to the War of the Castilian Succession, which ended with a victory of the Castilians on land and a Portuguese victory on the sea. The four peace treaties signed at Alcáçovas reflected that outcome: Isabella was recognized as Queen of Castile while Portugal reached hegemony in the Atlantic Ocean.
The papal bull Aeterni regis [English: "Of the eternal king"] was issued on 21 June 1481 by Pope Sixtus IV. It confirmed the substance of the Treaty of Alcáçovas, reiterating that treaty's confirmation of Castile in its possession of the Canary Islands and its granting to Portugal all further territorial acquisitions made by Christian powers in Africa and eastward to the Indies.
The Treaty of Madrid, also known as the Godolphin Treaty, was a treaty between England and Spain that was agreed to in July 1670 "for the settlement of all disputes in America". The treaty officially ended the war begun in 1654 in the Caribbean in which England had conquered Jamaica.
Inter caetera was a papal bull issued by Pope Alexander VI on the 4 May 1493, which granted to the Catholic Monarchs King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile all lands to the "west and south" of a pole-to-pole line 100 leagues west and south of any of the islands of the Azores or the Cape Verde islands.
The Treaty of Madrid was an agreement concluded between Spain and Portugal on 13 January 1750. In an effort to end decades of conflict in the region of present-day Uruguay, the treaty established detailed territorial boundaries between Portuguese Brazil and the Spanish colonial territories to the south and west. Portugal also recognized Spain's claim to the Philippines while Spain acceded to the westward expansion of Brazil. The treaty included a mutual guarantee of support in case either state's American colonies were attacked by a third power.
Uti possidetis is an expression that originated in Roman private law, where it was the name of a procedure used in litigation about land. It came from a praetorial edict that could be abbreviated "As you possess, so shall you possess". Later, by a misleading analogy, the phrase was transferred to international law, where it has had more than one meaning.
Mare clausum is a term used in international law to mention a sea, ocean or other navigable body of water under the jurisdiction of a state that is closed or not accessible to other states. Mare clausum is an exception to mare liberum, meaning a sea that is open to navigation to ships of all nations. In the generally accepted principle of international waters, oceans, seas, and waters outside national jurisdiction are open to navigation by all and referred to as "high seas" or mare liberum. Portugal and Spain defended a Mare clausum policy during the Age of Discovery. This was soon challenged by other European nations.
The historical phenomenon of colonization is one that stretches around the globe and across time. Ancient and medieval colonialism was practiced by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Turks, and Arabs.
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Ferdinand II was King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As the husband of Queen Isabella I of Castile, he was also King of Castile from 1475 to 1504. He reigned jointly with Isabella over a dynastically unified Spain; together they are known as the Catholic Monarchs. Ferdinand is considered the de facto first king of Spain, and was described as such during his reign, even though, legally, Castile and Aragon remained two separate kingdoms until they were formally united by the Nueva Planta decrees issued between 1707 and 1716.
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