Columbus’s return from the New World created an abundance of activity throughout Europe. Old World monarchs dispatched explorers and small armies to the newly discovered continent to establish outposts, spread religious beliefs, and seek treasure. The advanced Indian civilizations of South and Central America were prime targets for invasion because of their abundance of gold and silver.
As Spain and Portugal battled for legal rights to the New World, Pope Alexander VI, a Spaniard, mediated a compromise that divided the non-Christian world between the two powers. The Treaty of Tordesillas drew an imaginary line from the arctic pole to the Antarctic pole, 100 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, which are located west of the African coastline. The decision gave Spain the rights to anything west of the line and the opportunity to explore and settle the known New World. Brazil, however, though part of the New World, was settled by the Portuguese because it was on the eastern side of the treaty line.
1) Wang Kon (877-943) was the founder of the Korean Koryo dynasty and a descendant of a powerful clan at Songdo 2)which controlled maritime trade on the Yesong River. The legends of his ancestors and his rise to power bespeak the clan's intimate association with the sea.