an imaginary
one drawn from pole to pole, and passing one hundred leagues west
of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands, which were supposed, in the
inaccurate geography of the time, to be in the same meridian. In
the following year the Portuguese monarch applied for a revision
of the _raya_, as this would keep him out of all discovered in
the New World altogether; and the line of demarcation was then
shifted 270 leagues westward, or altogether 1110 miles west of
the Cape Verdes. By a curious coincidence, within six years Cabral
had discovered Brazil, which fell within the angle thus cut off by
the _raya_ from South America. Or was it entirely a coincidence?
May not Cabral have been directed to take this unusually westward
course in order to ascertain if any land fell within the Portuguese
claims? When, however, the Spice Islands were discovered, it remained
to be discussed whether the line of demarcation, when continued
on the other side of the globe, brought them within the Spanish
or Portuguese "sphere of influence," as we should say nowadays.
By a curious chance they happened to be very near the line, and,
with the inaccurate maps of the period, a pretty subject of quarrel
was afforded between the Portuguese and Spanish commissioners who
met at Badajos to determine the question. This was left undecided
by the Junta, but by a family compact, in 1529, Charles V. ceded
to his brother-in-law, the King of Portugal, any rights he might
have to the Moluccas, for the sum of 350,000 gold ducats, while
he himself retained the Philippines, which have been Spanish ever
since.

By this means the Indian Ocean became, for all trade purposes, a
Portuguese lake throughout the sixteenth century, as will be seen
from the preceding map, showing the trading stations of the Portuguese
all along the shores of the ocean. But they only possessed their
monopoly for fifty years, for in 1580 the Spanish and Portuguese
crowns became united on the head of Philip II., and by the time
Portugal recovered its independence, in 1640, serious rivals had
arisen to compete with her and Spain for the monopoly of the Eastern
trade.

[_Authorities_: Major, _Prince Henry the Navigator_, 1869; Beazeley,
_Prince Henry the Navigator_, 1895; F. Hummerich, _Vasco da Gama_,
1896.]

CHAPTER VII

TO THE INDIES WESTWARD--THE SPANISH ROUTE--COLUMBUS AND MAGELLAN

While the Portuguese had, with slow persistency, devoted nearly a
century to carrying out Princ