In 1493, Pope Alexander VI settled the conflict between Spain and Portugal over the newly discovered lands outside Europe in the Treaty of Tordesillas. It was the Pope who had to settle the argument because Spain didn't have enough military power in the Atlantic to fight the Portuguese, so they preferred a diplomatic settlement. The Pope divided the lands along an imaginary line 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands; the lands of the East were to belong to Portugal, and the lands of the West were for Spain.
