The Two State Solution No One Is Talking About

The map above is a tongue‐in‐cheek (and purely satirical) take on the Israeli–Palestinian “two‐state solution.”

It color‐codes only two “states” Spain (in yellow) and Portugal (in purple) then shades almost the entire globe (including Israel/Palestine) as “Portugal.”

This is reference to 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, in which the Pope divided the non‐European world between Spain and Portugal along a meridian in the Atlantic Ocean.

Under that treaty, newly “discovered” lands to the west of the line were designated for Spain, while lands to the east were designated for Portugal.

Therefore, in this map Israel/Palestine both fall into the Eastern part of the world.

And before anyone gets too angry about it here’s what the Treaty actually applied to.

The Real Treaty of Tordesillas

It was an agreement between Spain and Portugal, brokered by the Pope, dividing the non‐European world between the two powers.

Formally, it applied to:

“Newly discovered” lands outside of Europe.
- Any regions unknown (to Europeans) at the time were covered by this treaty—effectively, all of the so-called New World and undiscovered lands in Africa and Asia.
A specific line of demarcation running from pole to pole, about 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands (off Africa’s west coast).
- The exact line was set so that everything west of it (which included most of the Americas) belonged to Spain, while everything east of it (including parts of Africa, Asia, and what became Brazil) was reserved for Portugal.
Excluded “known” Christian territories within Europe.
- The treaty only attempted to define rights over lands that were outside of Europe (or at least not claimed by a Christian monarch).

Though it originally targeted Africa and the newly explored parts of the Americas, the treaty’s logic was later extended in disputes over Asia (the Treaty of Zaragoza in 1529 tried to clarify which side of the world belonged to each crown).

In practice, other European powers never recognized this division, and it didn’t end competing claims—but in principle, it gave Spain rights over most of the Americas, and Portugal rights over parts of Africa, Brazil, and a swath of Asia.