Age Of Exploration Vs American Exploration

Europeans were motivated to conquest to gain money, and trade was one of the channels where they found it. However, during

Did you know that the Age of Exploration was one the most important time in history for the world. The Age of Exploration began in the early 1500’s in the nation of Portugal under leadership of Henry the Navigator. The first expedition to circle the globe was led by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. The causes of the Age of Exploration was to look for new trade routes and spread religion. The effects of the Age of Exploration were slavery and disease.

In the early 1400’s ,the Europeans began to have control over the world by setting colonies in the Americas, along the coast of Africa, and parts of southeast Asia. This is referred to as the Age of Exploration . This Age was  caused by advances in technology and it was motivated by the desire for glory, religion , and economic factors. The accomplishments of the European Age of Exploration were that ideas and goods were being exchanged, wealth allowed them better ships and navigation tools, and they had the chance to claim land and territories. These factors contributed in bringing a European Golden Age.

The European Exploration was a time where Europeans explored new places, bringing new ideas to Europe. These explorations were a major factor in taking Europe from a “Dark Age” to a Renaissance. There are many causes that led to these great accomplishments, and the Renaissance.

Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, European exploration and expansion thrived. Portugal led the way in this movement of exploration with their development of efficiently built ships known as caravels, seafaring devices such as compasses and astrolabes, and cutting-edge naval academies. Various European countries, including Spain, England, France, etc., followed Portugal’s example by utilizing their progressive naval technology. These technological advancements led to the crossing of oceans and eventually the circumnavigation of the world. These Portuguese sailing techniques were implemented by explorers such as Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, Hernando Cortes, Francisco Pizarro, and Bernal Castillo allowing them to travel by sea to places such as Africa, East Asia, the Caribbean, and the Americas. These nations and explorers were persuaded to put in the time and effort to complete these complex expeditions by three essential motivations. Financial gain, political dignity, and religious expansion were fundamental motivators for the European Age of Exploration.

Spanish and English had similar motivations for exploration of the New World, such as gaining land, goods from the natives, and gold. However, their motivations also differ greatly. The Spanish conquistadors also gained slaves from the native people, as well as spreading the word of Christianity. The English settlers came to the New World to get away from the religious oppression in England and to practice religion freely, and to grow tobacco to send back to England. The Spanish gained much more land quickly because, upon landing in places like the Caribbean and Brazil, because of their conquering and enslaving of the natives. The English came to the New World much less prepared,

The advantage of working with foreign parties from Spain’s point of view is that Columbus was willing to go on the trip, and there was not a Spanish Explorer that would make the trip. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella believed that they could benefit from Columbus’ journey west. Queen Isabella wanted land and riches and by sending Columbus west she might be able to gain land and riches from Asia through trade and conquering. Spain was mainly a Catholic nation. They had a strong interest in spreading their religion to any land that they controlled. Any new land that Columbus found and claimed would be claimed for Spain. The advantage for Columbus was that he got paid to go on the journey. He was paid less than a Spanish explorer would have been, so King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella hired Columbus instead

Christopher Columbus is known for being an explorer and is said to have made one of the most important voyages in world history without even wanting to. Something else that is also believed is that he “opened up” the Americas to European nations, which changed the course of American history. Before he went on his voyage though, he was in need of resources. So he asked Portugal, France, Italy among many other countries but they all denied Columbus and thought his statement was incorrect. Columbus’ statement was that he had found a faster way to get to Asia than the Portuguese had, which was going around the continent of Africa. Columbus lived a majority of his life in Spain, so when it came to setting sail for the west, Spain was one of the first nations he asked for funding. Though it took Columbus a little more than a few years to convince a nation to fund his voyage, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand from Spain subsequently granted to endow him in 1492. He would then leave for “Asia” on August 3, 1492. There are many unanswered questions and thoughts on why Spain decided to finally fund Columbus’ voyage, especially since he was an explorer that was born in Italy.

The Age of Exploration benefited Portugal and Spain more than France because they had the advantage of obtaining more political and economic power, made Christianity more dominant than Islam, helped enhance their national identity, communicated with newly discovered groups, and formulated new inventions that improved them in the long run. Due to the Age of Exploration, Portugal and Spain benefited politically because they unified newly conquered land and kept substantial control as well as power over them by taking away the political power that these regions had possessed. Through ways of victory, the Spanish and the Portuguese gained power by these newly chartered lands. Through, “A decade of conquest, exploration, and administrative turmoil, Spain created the Viceroyalty of New Spain in 1530 in order to

During the 15th through 16th centuries, The Portuguese and Spanish explorers were very attracted to valuable resources, new land, and trade routes. These motives encouraged them to seek out new explorations and search for items that would benefit their home countries. Common resources that both the Spanish and Portuguese sought out included silks, porcelain, spices, persian horses, silver, and gold (Chasteen, 2001). Although the Portuguese and Spanish explored and sought out new land for many of the same reasons, they also had some different causes for exploration which were often very specific to the needs and goals of Portugal and Spain.

On the other side he discovered a vast body of water that he named "South

Arising out of the “Dark Ages” was the very weak Europe. After taking death tolls from the black death which was devastating to the European population, and also poverty spread around the entirety of Europe, the population felt stuck. In the early 1400s, the Europeans began to set out and explore the world by settling colonies in the Americas, along the coast of Africa, and parts of India and Southeast Asia. This is referred or known as the Age of Exploration. The Age of Exploration was caused by advances in technology and it was powered by the motivation for glory, religion, economic factors, and much more. The push factors and the causes of European exploration lead to a numerous amount of accomplishments ranging from new colonies/territories to bringing in wealth. If the Europeans had not had some of the push factors the Age like the fall of Constantinople, Columbus discovering the “New World” and economic reasons European Exploration would have never begun, or it would’ve taken many more years.

Various ships from different regions in Europe took part in the exploration. The ships traveled in search of business opportunities and new partnerships. The travelers sought to establish new trading routes that would support the new merging capitalist lifestyle in Europe. The changes were fast tracked by the age of the Renaissance. This age was characterized by adoption of new ideas and transformation that drastically improved the quality of the infrastructure.

The main motivation of European exploration was economic motives. People were beginning to become more interested in traveling by sea to reach Asia and Africa and all their riches(Duiker,494). The spice trade was what linked Europe to Asia, and the gold trade linked Europe to Africa. Furthermore, in the 15th and 16th centuries, as the economy and purchasing power of Europe developed and increased, the spice demand grew at a steady rate(Arnold,12). Therefore, spices were one of the few things that made overseas trade possible. Europe did not have very much gold to begin with, so ultimately the gold mines that they did possess were emptied. After 1400, Europe started trading with the areas that produced gold, increasing their amount of gold. Gold was very important to Europe, because not only was it used for decorations, but also their currency. In 1500, Portugal was controlling the flow of gold to Europe, making Portugal much wealthier(Buckler,500). Eventually, slaves were included in the gold

With the renaissance in full effect, it was also the Age of Discovery. New trade routes to India were being used by the Portuguese while the Ottomans controlled the land routes. Other European wanted a piece of that valuable trade but couldn’t find a way to get to the spice riches of India and China- that is until Columbus. With the backings of the Spanish monarchy, Columbus and his three ships decided to go on the journey west into the open sea to find a way to the East Indies and in a way, he succeeded. Columbus thought he had found a route to India but in reality, he had become the first European since the Vikings to set foot on the Americas and unlike the Vikings, Columbus and his crew were able to set a foothold in this new continent giving Spain a vast amount of ‘undiscovered’ land. This discovery led to a chain reaction with other Europeans trying to set their foothold on this new continent. With new source of raw materials like gold and wood (later tobacco and cotton) the European nations became very wealthy with Spain being the wealthiest of the