It’s all Christopher Columbus’ fault.
In the 1400s, there were two major naval powers. The Portuguese and the Spanish. They were in competition for a concerted land grab of every coastal area they could find. Long before either the Panama canal or the Suez canal was opened, a country who controlled the major ports along the African and South American coast controlled the trade routes and therefore could control the levees and taxes raised from passing ships as well as profiteering from all the supplying of the various expeditions. Because Spain and Portugal went to war over every country they found, they eventually appealed to the Pope to settle who should have dominion over which countries, and so the Pope divided the world down an imaginary line.…