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that continent. Lack of precise geographical
information complicated these claims, and
attempts to secure papal grants to one or
the other claimant merely confused the
issue. The report of a successful transat-
lantic voyage (1492-93) by C
HRISTOPHER
C
OLUMBUS
focused the dispute and expe-
dited practical resolutions. A new pope,
the Spanish-born A
LEXANDER
VI, declared
a preliminary demarcation line in 1493. It
ran from the North Pole to the South Pole
along a line that assigned all discoveries or
acquisitions of non-Christian territories
west of that line to Castile (or, in essence,
to Spain) and those lying east of the line
to Portugal.
The Treaty of Tordesillas, concluded at
the Spanish town of that name, confirmed
and put into the form of a diplomatic agree-
ment the division of the non-European
world into Spanish and Portuguese spheres
of influence or conquest. Later papal decrees
would grant management of missionary
activities to Spanish and Portuguese clergy
in their respective zones. The Treaty of
Tordesillas itself would be modified several
times during subsequent decades. The line
of demarcation was shifted westward in
1497-98 to the benefit of Portugal. The lat-
ter country did not publicly reveal that it
had reached the coast of what is now B
RA
-
ZIL
until 1500, after the revised Tordesillas
agreement gave it jurisdiction over what
now emerged as a portion of South Amer-
ica. Spain, on the other hand, ventured
across the Pacific in the 1520s. The M
AGEL
-
LAN
expedition and other ventures into Asia
were opposed by Portugal, which finally
conceded the P
HILIPPINE
I
SLANDS
to Spain in
1529 by yet another reworking of the
Tordesillas agreement. All of these agree-
ments were eventually rendered obsolete
when other European countries began
venturing into territory originally claimed
by Spain or Portugal, adopting the attitude
displayed by King François I of France
when he remarked that he had found it
nowhere written in Father Adam's will that
he had left the whole world exclusively to
the inheritance of his Spanish and Portu-
guese descendants.
Torquemada, Tomás de
(1429-1498)
Spanish clergyman
A Castilian, born in V
ALLADOLID
, Torque-
mada became a priest of the Dominican
order. His ecclesiastical career was assisted
by his uncle, Cardinal Juan de Torquemada
(1388-1468), who had significant influence
at Rome. His nephew undoubtedly owed
his appointment as prior of the Dominican
monastery at S
EGOVIA
to this influence.
Tomás developed valuable connections of
his own, however, including a friendship
with the secretary and treasurer of King
F
ERDINAND
V and Queen I
SABELLA
I. By
1479 he was already well established in the
royal favor, extending his influence to other
Dominican monasteries and soon becoming
confessor to the monarchs.
Inquisitorial tribunals had for some time
being operating in Spain but were criticized
by the pope in 1482 as poorly managed. In
the following year eight new inquisitors
were appointed to improve the situation,
one of them being Torquemada, who soon
acquired an ascendancy over his associates.
Within two years he had been named as
inquisitor general for the lands of the crown
of A
RAGON
, and by 1487 he was grand
inquisitor with jurisdiction over C
ASTILE
as
well. During the remaining five years of his
life Torquemada laid down the basic princi-
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