Treaty of Madrid (1750)

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Demarcation lines according to the older agreements of 1493, 1494 and 1529

The Treaty of Madrid was signed by the Spanish King Ferdinand VI. and the Portuguese King John V signed on January 13, 1750 , redefining the borders between the colonies of the two monarchies in South America. On the Spanish side, Prime Minister José de Carvajal y Lancaster was in charge of the content.

This treaty replaced older documents that had delimited the borders of Portuguese and Spanish colonial areas in America:

In these documents it was stated that the Portuguese possessions should not extend further than the 46th meridian .

The treaty allowed a great expansion of Portuguese territories. The contract is based on the principle of Roman law that " uti possidetis, ita possideatis " (= the person who wants to exercise the right of possession must also own it).

As a result of the treaty, Portugal gave Spain Colonia del Sacramento (Art. XIII) and in return received the southern territories at the source of the Río Ibicuí , the missions, the border rights on the Rio Guaporé and left them the western territories of the Japurá River in the Amazon -Region and river navigation on the Río Içá (Art. XIV). In the event of war between the two states of Spain and Portugal in Europe, the colonies in South America remain at peace (Art. XXI).

This treaty assumes the access of various Jesuit reductions (see also: Jesuit reductions of the Guaraní ) from the upper reaches of the Río Uruguay from the Portuguese side. Since the enslavement of Indians in Portugal was legal at the time, the missions rose against the treaty and used the means of guerrilla warfare to defend themselves against the Spanish and Portuguese soldiers who were defending the new borders and the bandeirantes who kept returning to the Missions occurred to kidnap indigenous people and sell them as educated slaves in Brazil. The film Mission is set against this backdrop . After a few years of war, the Jesuits agree to the transfer of the missions to the Portuguese colonial area.

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