Treaty of Zaragoza

The Treaty of Zaragoza, or Treaty of Saragossa, also referred to as the Capitulation of Zaragoza, was a peace treaty between the Spanish Crown and Portugal, signed on 22 April 1529 by King John III and the Emperor Charles V, in the Aragonese city of Zaragoza. The treaty defined the areas of Castilian (Spanish) and Portuguese influence in Asia, in order to resolve the "Moluccas issue", which had arisen because both kingdoms claimed the Moluccas islands for themselves, asserting that it was within their area of influence established by the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. The conflict began in 1520, when expeditions of both kingdoms reached the Pacific Ocean, because no agreed meridian of longitude had been established in the orient.

In 1494 Castile and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, dividing the world into two areas of exploration and colonisation: the Castilian and the Portuguese. It proclaimed a meridian in the Atlantic Ocean, with areas west of the line exclusive to Spain, and east of the line to Portugal.

In 1511, Malacca, then the centre of Asian trade, was conquered for Portugal by Afonso de Albuquerque. Getting to know the secret location of the so-called "spice islands" – the Banda Islands in the Moluccas, then the single world source of nutmeg and cloves, and the main purpose for the travels in the Indian Ocean – Albuquerque sent an expedition led by António de Abreu in search of the Moluccas, particularly the Banda islands. The expedition arrived in early 1512, passing en route through the Lesser Sunda Islands, being the first Europeans to get there. Before reaching Banda, the explorers visited the islands of Buru, Ambon and Seram. Later, after a separation forced by a shipwreck, Abreu's vice-captain Francisco Serrão, sailed to the north and, but his ship sank off Ternate, where he obtained a license to build a Portuguese fortress-factory: the Forte de São João Baptista de Ternate ().

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