This was left undecided by the Junta, but by a family compact, in 1529, Charles V.ceded to his brother-in-law, the King of Portugal, any rights he might have to the Moluccas, for the sum of 350,000 gold ducats, while he himself retained the Philippines, which have been Spanish ever since.
By this means the Indian Ocean became, for all trade purposes, a Portuguese lake throughout the sixteenth century, as will be seen from the preceding map, showing the trading stations of the Portuguese all along the shores of the ocean.

But they only possessed their monopoly for fifty years, for in 1580 the Spanish and Portuguese crowns became united on the head of Philip II., and by the time Portugal recovered its independence, in 1640, serious rivals had arisen to compete with her and Spain for the monopoly of the Eastern trade.
[_Authorities_: Major, _Prince Henry the Navigator_, 1869; Beazeley, _Prince Henry the Navigator_, 1895; F.Hummerich, _Vasco da Gama_, 1896.].