an advantage was to recapture Jamaica or France and Holland to join in a potential war, which Charles was seeking to avoid. Negotiations began in the autumn of 1669 between the Spanish representative Gaspar de Bracamonte, Count of Peñaranda, with William Godolphin, Envoy Extraordinary from England. The original language of the treaty was in Latin, and the complete English title was "A treaty for the composing of differences, restraining of depredations, and establishing of peace in America, between the crowns of Great Britain and Spain, concluded at Madrid the 8/18 day of July, in the year of our Lord 1670". Terms Spain began to legally recognize in Article VII of the 1670 Treaty of Madrid, any territories in the Americas known as the Western Hemisphere that England's subjects had illegally settled by Adverse Possession. Before the 1670 treaty, Spain legally considered the Western Hemisphere exclusively as Spanish territory with the exception of Brazil which according to the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas was Portuguese. That treaty acknowledged Christopher Columbus' claiming the Western Hemisphere for Spain on October 12, 1492. The Madrid treaty modified Tordesillas in favour of an English legal presence in the Americas. Under the terms of the treaty, all letters of reprisal were revoked by Spain, and reciprocal aid to ships in distress along with permission to repair in each others ports were required. England agreed to suppress piracy in the Caribbean, and in return, Spain agreed to permit English ships freedom of movement. Both agreed to refrain from trading in the other's Caribbean territory and to limit trading to their own possessions. The treaty was then ratified on 28 September. Consequences In Spain and its colonies, the treaty was hated and viewed by many as a humiliating surrender. Spain's military, economic and political weakness meant that it was unable to pose any will, which England had taken easy advantage of. Spanish merchants in particular were unwilling to accept the treaty, and the Spanish crown had to give special tax Cédulas as compensation. The treaty was highly favourable to England, on the other hand, and the fact that Spain recognised England's colonies in the Americas was a major concession. In previous treaties, Spain had always insisted that the New World west of Brazil belonged to it alone. England effectively challenged Spain in the western Caribbean, and subsequently used Jamaica as a base to support settlements all along the Central