Born c. 1570–93, Castanheira, Portugal
Died June 4, 1640, São Luís do Maranhão, Brazil

The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas was an agreement between Spain and Portugal that divided the non-Christian world into two separate areas that the powerful nations could explore, convert, and colonize. The division gave North America and most of South America to Spain, and the east end of South America, Africa, and India to Portugal. But in 1580 Spain’s Philip II claimed the Portuguese throne, and for the next sixty years the two countries were ruled by the same king and were political allies, although they still had different governments. The nations also jealously guarded their colonial possessions. How is it, then, that army officer Pedro de Teixeira managed to claim an enormous region of South America— the whole Amazon River Basin—for Portugal?

Teixeira arrives in South America