The King of the West and the King of the East divide Earth

In 1567 the King of Spain (pic) was engaged in several fronts: the Turks (Lepanto), the English (the Armada) while organizing expeditions to conquer China. The Portuguese already were established in Macao, so the Spanish had to settle further in Manila as the forward base facing South China. Manila and the Far East was attached to nearest Spanish center, in Mexico. In 1567, the local government of Mexico City (the Cabildo) sent a petition to Felipe II demanding

“repartir la tierra de las dichas islas de Poniente y de la China, perpetuándolas entre los descubridores y pobladores”. 

That is, to divide the land of the Western Islands (Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, etc. are Western regarding them from Mexico) and China, and grant formal titles of property to the discoverers and settlers. The Spaniards in Mexico, a large kingdom recently conquered and divided among Cortes and his soldiers, felt themselves numerous and powerful enough to ask the King to allow them conquer China and grant them royal titles of property. 

Those were the years when the Spanish and the Portuguese kings divided among themselves the planet: Portugal got Africa and Brazil, Spain - Mexico and Peru and the Far East (China). Today we would say they were suffering from megalomania and hubris: but no, they meant it.