Have we really wrongly forgotten the history of real estate?
Have a seat and read a little history, you might find a lot of description of grandiose kings and queens, religion, geography, and wars of conquests. Did you notice that there’s only a portion stories about real estate deals—which is really surprising since some of history’s epic turns—from building great cities to the fall of entire nations can be traced back to the wheeling and dealing for properties.
So in this post, we will take you back to some of the greatest real estate deals in the history.
Carving up the New World: Land and Territorial Agreement
It all started with Portugal’s King John II’s grumpy mood when he met the returning sailor, Columbus who boasted landing in India on a voyage paid for by Portugal’s great rival, Spain. Well, Columbus did really land in the West Indies. The biggest part is when he found out that Columbus’ discovery was to the west of a line the Pope had separating Spanish and Portuguese spheres of influence.
As a result, John threatened a declaration of war, but in the end, Spanish negotiated a new point of demarcation—the agreement was 18 degrees to the west of the Cape Verde Islands.
What’s the relationship of this piece of history to real estate?
This depicts a picture of carving up the asking rights to the North and South American continents. It was one of the first agreements when it comes to land expansion and territorial rights.
Sidney Kidman’s Outback Adventure: The Birth of Remodelling and Renovations
Like many youth, Sidney Kidman has a great thirst for an adventure, but where others dreamed, Kidman dared sneaking away from his parents’ home at Adelaide in 1870 on one-eyed horse, heading for the Outback.
Making his way to the Barrier Range, he got a job as a stockman and became friends with a local Aboriginal man, named Billy. This man taught him to navigate the wide expanses of the interior.
There more great histories you can link to real estate. Most are just forgotten. In our next posts, we will provide some more informative stories about the history of real estate. Stay tuned!