There were Spain, England, France, Russia and China expeditions that visited all parts of the Ocean including Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean basin. Europeans were not the only people who were explored the larger world. In the1400 and 1800, European sailors, explorers and adventures launched series of exploratory voyages to explore the world and brought them to almost to all the earths water. The explorers, conquerors, missionaries, merchants, and adventurers sought to claim new lands to colonize, new land for possession and control trade routes. In the following, I will discuss the differences between the motivations of the Europeans’ expansion of the New World and develop empires whereas the societies of Asia and Africa did not.
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1). The Nations of Europe sought to expand their empire because they were on the verge of overpopulation.Between 1550 and 1600 the population grew from three million to four million people. Also, England and Spain were at a war for power. The Spanish attempts at colonizing the New World had been extremely successful, for they had gained both wealth and power. The English did not see such success, as their ships would crash, be lost to the seas, or their colonization efforts would cease to be useful. Through the Spaniards control over the Americas they had gained a massive naval army, noted as the Spanish Armada. The Spanish attempt to invade England in 1588 failed which lead to the beginning of the fall of the Spanish empire in the New World.
European nations in the 15th century began exploring new lands with three motives: religion, wealth, and glory. It was made possible by advances in naval fleet building and navigation, first pioneered by the Portuguese. Europeans began to be involved in extensive exploration, coming in contact with Africa, Americas and their prime target Asia. The main targets of the pioneering Portugese and Spanish was to find and alternate trade route for the Indies trade and also promote Christianity to the new lands. As the century unfolded, the search for newer territories to colonize and shortern routes to the exotic land of spices and silk became the initial driving force for the intensive early exploration by the Europeans .
The Renaissance and the Age of Exploration brought on new ideas, technology, and tools that allowed the Europeans to travel across sea. The Europeans traveled to Africa in search of grains, spices, ivory, gold and slaves. Upon further exploration they found China. In China they found what they were searching for, they found silk cloth, spices and goods. The Europeans wanted to gain power by expanding their empire and search for gold. New technology, firepower, greed, and curiosity drove the Europeans to explore western
The desire for new trade routes by the Europeans was one reason the Age of Exploration began. In Document 1 it is written that the Europeans were afraid of the Ottoman Empire due to their rapid expansion and powerful military. This shows that Europe was afraid to challenge them and they were pushed to expand and find other trade routes. Document 2 depicts the power the Ottoman had and the control they held over Mediterranean Sea trade, therefore preventing the Safavid and Europeans from trading. Because of this, Europe
The Europeans began their expansion in the globe by taking up African and Asian colonies. During the 1870s, the world experienced imperialism as the Europeans established empires in Africa and Asia. Their aggressive expansion was as a result of industrialization. The move was made for economic, religious, political, humanitarian, and political reasons, amongst others (Hook and Spanier, p.19). Also, Africa was easy to access due to its geographical position. As a result, the Europeans could get into the continent through the ocean or the Gulf Canal. In addition, the Africans continent had vast lands that were beneficial for the Europeans. They started up companies and farming land that would produce their foods. Additionally, the Africans and
As early as the fifteenth century, Europeans began to become eager to discover the New World that was unknown to them. With the concerns of rapid population growth, commerce, new learning, and the rise of competing for nation states, they set out for new adventures and discovery. For a long time, Spain and Portugal were the only European powers with New World colonies.
Between the 1450-1750, European states began to embark on a series of global explorations that prompted a new chapter in world history. It was known as the Age of Discovery, or the Age of Exploration, this period spanned the fifteenth through the early seventeenth century, during which time European expansion to places such as the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Competition between European empires, such as Spain and England, fueled the evolution and advancement of overseas exploration and European empires during this period expanded greatly.
The British, French and Spanish were the main empires that colonised throughout the continent of North America during the 17th century. The European nations wanted to gain further power by acquiring more land overseas. They were also in search for new trade routes that led directly to Asia or Africa because this would give them unlimited access to gold and other goods. Another reason for exploration was to spread Christianity and Catholicism wherever they went which would weaken the Middle Eastern Muslims. This would also be the time of the Columbian Exchange which was the transfer of goods, animals, crops and diseases through the Americas, Europe and Africa.
Expansion is something that our history has come to know for many years. Throughout all these years of expansion one question arises: is expansion always positive? When thinking about expansion, many people never consider the people affected by it. Expansion in the New World had a negative effect on the Native Americans in North America. The worst effect of expansion can be seen in the loss of native land.
The continent was discovered by explores that were seeking “new route” to India. To facilitate the lucrative Spice trade. Long tales of mineral wealth in the New World quickly spurred a lot of extensive colonization. Portugal and Spain dominated the earlier colonization time; however, many of the European powers to be gained a foothold. The
Impacts of European expansion reached across the world and affected more than the expanding European powers and their colonies in the new world. Life in the world changed when these two cultures that were directly opposite of one another collided. Europe was filled with greed for resources and wealth, the Indigenous people living on these resources were living a simple sustainable life with next to no government or regulation. Once the new world was set up Europeans who ran these new territories called colonists today developed their own society and way of living and would end up revolting against the homeland.
After Spanish settlers in the New World realized the lucrative business that came with running plantations, such as their sugarcane and tobacco plantations in the West Indies, they set in place a forced labor system known as encomienda to have the natives do all of the work for them. The New Laws of 1542 were formed after the King was made aware of the harsh treatment and declining population of natives due to disease, overcrowding, and work fatigue. Once the laws were put in place, forced labor was outlawed and natives became wards of the state that were given protection; settlers were angered by the fact that natives would no longer be their source or labor. Despite the settlers opposition to the New
During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Europe underwent an age of great exploration. Many expeditioners from countries all over Europe took long voyages into the unknown world. Until this time, Europe, Asia and Africa were the only known colonized lands. With the discovery of new land came the people that had already inhabited there. European expansion and conquest of what quickly became known as the New World had a huge impact on the lives of the indigenous people living there.
There are many reasons as to why the Europeans were able to make empires far away from their homelands. The first reason being that Europeans were near the Americas unlike their opponents (Asia) in which were father away. The Europeans were determined to gain more land, enlarge the religion of Christianity, and expand the economy by gaining more territory. Every European had their own reasoning for wanting to expand therefore, everyone had their own motives. Another reason that enabled them was that they were also involved in trading which helped them transport items to and from the Americas. The last reason was the Europeans immunity to diseases. While many Americans fell ill because of all of the European diseases, the Europeans did not, enabling them to conquer more land.
Trade was the first motive for European exploration. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Italians and Muslims had control of the Mediterranean. Because of this, countries such as Portugal lacked access to Asian trade routes, since they lacked the resources to break through “the Italian dominated trade of the Mediterranean” (Arnold 4) Such countries were forced to explore and expand in order to find new routes around the world to reach Asia, causing them to search for goods and trade beyond their borders, acquiring land and resources along the way, which in turn expanded European trade and economy. Another factor was Europe's search for new trade. European merchants discovered that they could no longer sell their merchandise in Asia and Africa, as many of their products were deemed inferior to their African and Asian counterparts. They attempted to sell “crude woollen cloth in Asian markets accustomed to fine silks and calicoes” (Arnold 3) The Europeans needed a new market, motivating them to send explorers such as