Causes Of The Age Of Exploration

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.

During the 17th century, many nations started settling all throughout North America. Spanish conquistadors claimed much of the Southwest, while England began to occupy the Northeast. The Spanish and English colonies varied in terms of the impact of religion and control of the economy.

The New England colonies vs. the Chesapeake colonies had many differences in there economical make-up, as far as their economic activities and the diversity of the economies. The New England society had a very diverse economy as far as their activities go. Some economic activities included small farms, livestock,

The three colonies all wanted to make money but they had to go about it in different ways. This was mainly due to what they had available. The New England Colonies were mainly agricultural farmers. With all the water reservoirs like Cape Cod there were plenty of fish so lots of people became fishermen. There were a lot of lumberjacks to cut down trees and export them to England. The Middle Colonies were extremely different because they set up extensive cosmopolitan cities reminiscent of New York. They had many specialists like doctors, lawyers, accountants, and teachers. They traded a lot with in North America and occasionally overseas. The Southern Colonies primarily depended on cotton and tobacco plantations. As the plantations grew they had to employ black slaves. The plantations were fully self contained with their own blacksmith, teachers and professionals. So there were no big cities or towns. The main plantations traded directly with Europe via the Mississippi. The three colonies all made money differently with their diverse professions and traders.

We are going to start discussing the economic aspect of both colonies, it is important to note that the economic activities and trade of each colony depended on the environment in which the settlers lived. Geography and climate were important factors that impacted the economic and commercial activities between New England colonies and Southern colonies because these depended on the environment.

Their main crop became tobacco, which was an industry that took off rather quickly in England. However, even though the soil was rich, growing tobacco completely destroyed the soil and therefore the settlers of Chesapeake had to quickly start to expand their land further west to compensate for the demand of tobacco and their defertilization of their own soil. This lead to a rise of wealthy plantation owners and a plethora of indentured servants. Meanwhile, in New England, their economy was based off things like fishing and lumber, due to the fact they had rocky mountains, poor soil and harsh winters which made it practically impossible to cultivate plants. These colonies relied heavily on the mother country, England, for trade. This lead to a rise of mercantilism, where England imported the raw materials from the colony and exported the finished goods for the colony to buy. However, this also lead to a lot of New England settlers smuggling and selling their goods to Dutch and French people so they could make money, since England was not paying them much for their materials and the finished products were too expensive to

There was very little development of the industry as a result of plantation owners putting all of their money into their land and slaves. This resulted in little investment and was therefore the cause for little development. The little bit of industry development that there was resulted in Lumber, fur and Naval store trading. In the Middle Colonies the establishment was also partially economical, with the exception of Pennsylvania. Just as in the South these colonies were established to serve the mother country, however the agriculture was producing different crops, and the industry was producing fur and Naval supplies but not much Lumber. The agricultural aspect of the economy flourished because of the moderate climate which provided for longer growing seasons and also the rich soil found in the area. The main crops were Wheat, Barley, Fruit and livestock was also produced. These colonies were known as "The Bread Basket." Although mainly established for religious reasons the north also contributed to the mercantile system. The climate was cold ad growing seasons were short, the soil was rocky and it was hard to produce crops. However small amounts of Beans, Barley, Oats and corn were produced along with livestock. The main economic advantage in the North was the fact that it was in a good trading location and had good ports. This is why the

The economy of the two regions also greatly differed because of the terrain that they landed on. Because the land in the south was much more fertile than in the north, the southern colonies thrived in rice and tobacco, profiting greatly. In New England the settlers could not grow anything in the rocky terrain and were forced into fishing, building, and farming. However, not much farming went on because of the infertile soil. In the Chesapeake slaves were also a main part of their economy. The slave trade made them very wealthy because of their closeness to the West Indies. They would be shipped many slaves and then use them to harvest their crops and plant their land. Soon, the slaves outnumbered white settlers by about four to one.

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It was the age of discovery that first provoked intrigue and curiosity of new lands, particularly the Americas, and how the Europeans could expand to fit their society within the borders of this unknown and unexplored land. By the 1580s, more had been learned about the Americas, but any colonization until this point had not even been attempted. And so it was the English, under Queen Elizabeth I's rule, that were issued to establish a colony along the east coast of North America. However, when this great accomplishment was finally made in 1587, it was not long founded until its ultimate fate ended in the disappearance of the colony three years later, instantly creating one of the greatest

The economy of the Chesapeake and New England were both directly affected by their geographical locations and surroundings. The Chesapeake colonies were very rich and fertile in soil, which allowed them to develop an agricultural-based economy; whereas, the New England colonies were

During the 15th and 16th century, countries such as Portugal set out to find out more about the world in an era called the “Age of Exploration.” The explorers set out on voyages mainly to find sea trade routes to Asia. Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus, and Ferdinand Magellan were the explorers that made the most important breakthroughs. They used different boats, tools, and maps to help them explore.

As early America was being established, three colony regions were produced. These were the New England, Middle, and Southern colonies, all of which had emigrants from Europe settle and create new towns and cities. Each colony had a different reason for being founded, although many reasons were similar. These and other differences created a unique and diverse combination of people, economic activities, and beliefs that formed the thirteen colonies.

had traveled to Asia via the Silk Road. The Silk Road were series of trade routes extending between East Asia and Europe. But there were disadvantages with the Silk Road. It was a long and dangerous journey. It extended through Muslim-controlled territories, which were risks for European travelers. The only other way to get to Asia then was to sail around Africa. This too was a long journey with its own kind of

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.