FYI July 02, 2020

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On This Day

1494 – The Treaty of Tordesillas is ratified by Spain.
The Treaty of Tordesillas (Portuguese: Tratado de Tordesilhas [tɾɐˈtaðu ðɨ tuɾðeˈziʎɐʃ];[note 1] Spanish: Tratado de Tordesillas [tɾaˈtaðo ðe toɾðeˈsiʎas]), signed at Tordesillas in Spain on June 7, 1494, and authenticated at Setúbal, Portugal, divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between the Portuguese Empire and the Spanish Empire (Crown of Castile), along a meridian 370 leagues[note 2] west of the Cape Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa. This line of demarcation was about halfway between the Cape Verde islands (already Portuguese) and the islands entered by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage (claimed for Castile and León), named in the treaty as Cipangu and Antilia (Cuba and Hispaniola).

The lands to the east would belong to Portugal and the lands to the west to Castile. The treaty was signed by Spain, 2 July 1494, and by Portugal, 5 September 1494. The other side of the world was divided a few decades later by the Treaty of Zaragoza, signed on 22 April 1529, which specified the antimeridian to the line of demarcation specified in the Treaty of Tordesillas. Originals of both treaties are kept at the General Archive of the Indies in Spain and at the Torre do Tombo National Archive in Portugal.[8]

This treaty would be observed fairly well by Spain and Portugal, despite considerable ignorance as to the geography of the New World; however, it omitted all of the other European powers. Those countries generally ignored the treaty, particularly those that became Protestant after the Protestant Reformation.

The treaty was included by UNESCO in 2007 in its Memory of the World Programme.

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Born On This Day

1876 – Harriet Brooks, Canadian physicist and academic (d. 1933)
Harriet Brooks (July 2, 1876 – April 17, 1933[1]) was the first Canadian female nuclear physicist. She is most famous for her research on nuclear transmutations and radioactivity. Ernest Rutherford, who guided her graduate work, regarded her as being next to Marie Curie in the calibre of her aptitude.[2] She was among the first persons to discover radon and to try to determine its atomic mass.[2]

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FYI

By Josh Jones, Open Culture: John Prine’s Last Song Was Also His First to Go No. 1: Watch Him Perform “I Remember Everything”
 
 
By Colin Marshall, Open Culture: An Animated Introduction to the Pioneering Anthropologist Margaret Mead
 
 
 
 

By James Clear: 3-2-1: On choosing the right goal, focus, and perseverance
 
 
 
 

ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative: Say goodbye to AT&T and its monopolist pals
 
 
 
 
This episode was produced by Brit Hanson, fact-checked by Yowei Shaw and edited by Deborah Goerge NPR: Backyard Birding 101
 
 
 
 

By James Rogers, Fox News: Get set for July 4 buck moon, partial lunar eclipse: NASA’s top tips for July skywatchers The July 4 full moon is known as the buck moon or thunder moon

 
 
 
 
By Craig Stevens – National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Christina Hulbe – University of Otago Live Science: How a hidden ocean circulates beneath the Antarctic ice

 
 
 
 

The Rural Blog: Federal report looks at Appalachia’s petrochemical potential; New memoir recounts how Appalachian author broke a generational cycle of abuse and more ->
 
 
 
 
The Awesomer: Frosted Flakes x Froot Loops; Black Ice and more ->
 
 
 
 
NSFW

Recipes

By Elizabethinmn: Grilled Tex Mex Romaine Salad
 
 
By Jadem52: Perfect Cast Iron Campfire Pizza