opened which Contarini, in 1525, believed would never be settled.[1]
Ferdinand and Isabella took up the matter promptly. The eminent cosmographer Jayme Ferrer was asked in August, 1493, to bring his charts and instruments to Barcelona. In February, 1495, he sent on a rude method of determination.[2] In April of that year the convention of pilots, astrologers, and mariners provided for in the treaty of Tordesillas was appointed for July. After agreeing upon a method of calculation each party was to proceed to the determination of the line. If either party found land where the line ought to fall, word was to be despatched to the other, who within ten months after receiving word must send to mark it.[3] All maps made thereafter must contain the line.[4]
The first appearance of the Demarcation Line on a map
- ↑ Relazione di' Gasparo Contarini, Albèri, 1 ser. II, 48.
- ↑ Navarrete, II, 98. Ferrer decided that the 370 leagues were equivalent to 23 degrees on the equator.
- ↑ Nothing seems to have come of this proposed convention. Herrera says of the agreement of April, "It does not appear to have been performed." Yet see Harrisse's notes 90 and 92, Diplomatic History.
- ↑ Navarrete, II, 170–173.
