# Redrawing the map: partitions and purchases

Treaties that moved borders and traded whole territories, from Tordesillas to the Panama Canal.

*This story part of: State, law, and coercion*

## c. 880 — Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum

Pact between Alfred the Great of Wessex and the Viking king Guthrum defining the boundary between English and Danish rule. It formalized the Danelaw and set legal terms between the two peoples.

## c. 911 — Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte

Agreement between King Charles the Simple of West Francia and the Viking leader Rollo, granting Rollo lands around Rouen in exchange for defense and baptism. It created what became the Duchy of Normandy.

## 4 September 1479 — Treaty of Alcacovas

Treaty between Castile and Portugal ending the War of the Castilian Succession and dividing Atlantic spheres, with Portugal keeping the African coast and most island groups. It was the first European treaty partitioning overseas zones of expansion.

## 16 June 1494 — Treaty of Tordesillas

treaty dividing territory between Portugal and Spain

## 22 April 1529 — Treaty of Saragossa

Treaty between Spain and Portugal fixing the antimeridian of the Tordesillas line in the Pacific, with the Moluccas falling to Portugal. It completed the division of the globe into two Iberian spheres.

## 1 July 1569 — Union of Lublin

Treaty merging the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with a shared elected king and parliament. It created one of the largest states in Europe.

## 27 August 1689 — Treaty of Nerchinsk

First treaty between Russia and Qing China, fixing their border along the Argun and Stanovoy ranges and opening regulated trade. Russia gave up the Amur valley for over 150 years.

## 5 August 1772 — First Partition of Poland

Conventions among Russia, Prussia, and Austria annexing about a third of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's territory. It began the process that erased Poland from the map by 1795.

## 30 April 1803 — Louisiana Purchase

Treaty by which the United States bought the Louisiana territory from France for 15 million dollars, roughly doubling the size of the country. It opened the trans-Mississippi West to American expansion.

## 22 February 1819 — Adams-Onis Treaty

Treaty in which Spain ceded Florida to the United States and the two powers fixed a boundary across North America to the Pacific. It defined the western limits of the Louisiana Purchase.

## 6 February 1840 — Treaty of Waitangi

Agreement between the British Crown and Maori chiefs that made New Zealand a British colony while promising Maori possession of their lands. Differences between the English and Maori texts remain central to New Zealand law and politics.

## 15 June 1846 — Oregon Treaty

Treaty between Britain and the United States dividing the Oregon Country along the 49th parallel. It settled the last major boundary dispute between the two powers in North America.

## 30 March 1867 — Alaska Purchase

Treaty by which Russia sold Alaska to the United States for 7.2 million dollars. Mocked at the time as Seward's Folly, it later proved strategically and economically valuable.

## 15 November 1884 to 26 February 1885 — Berlin Conference

Conference of European powers and the United States that set rules for claiming African territory and recognized King Leopold's Congo Free State. It accelerated the Scramble for Africa without any African participation.

## 11 February 1929 — Lateran Treaty

Treaty between Italy and the Holy See creating the sovereign State of Vatican City and settling the Roman Question. It defined church-state relations in Italy.

## 7 September 1977 — Torrijos-Carter Treaties

Treaties between the United States and Panama providing for the transfer of the Panama Canal to Panama by the end of 1999 while guaranteeing its neutrality. They ended nearly a century of US control of the canal zone.

## 19 December 1984 — Sino-British Joint Declaration

Agreement providing for the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997 under the one country, two systems formula, with its way of life guaranteed for fifty years. Its status has been central to later disputes over Hong Kong.