Explorationism During The Exploration Age

Europeans came to America out of a desire for gold, God, and glory. Many notable explorers such as Christopher Columbus and Hernando Cortez traveled to the New World and encountered native populations. Columbus tried to convert

1.) The desire to find new trade routes to Asia was one of the motivations for European explorations. Europeans were seeking the wealth of Africa and Asia. They wanted profit, they wanted gold. The spice market was also a huge profit of trading and several countries tried to gain control of spice trade. Another motivation was God and religion. Europeans wanted to spread the teachings of the Gospel to other parts of the world. They believed it was their duty to spread the word of God. Lastly, land was another motivation for European explorations. Some rulers, especially the King of Spain, and the King of Portugal, wanted to claim as much land as they could. The more land and money a country owned, the better their chance of domination in Europe.

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 fundamental factors that drew Europeans to the exploration, conquest, and colonization of the New World are: the desire to spread Christianity, the search for new lands and new resources, the ambition to be known around the world and to address overpopulation in their homeland. The first three fundamental factors, called “God, Gold and Glory”, are generally known to be the main factors that motivated Europeans to the exploration, conquest and colonization of the New World. With the 3G’s present and were able to achieve by

The accumulation of wealth for individuals as well as nations, propelled European Exploration. For instance, Hernando Cortes travelled to Central America with a key motivation of obtaining gold. This can be exemplified in The Dispatches of Hernando Cortes to Emperor Charles V, 1519-1521, “‘I and my companions suffer from a disease of the heart which can only

The Europeans main goal revolved around the stability of power of the Spanish Crown. The Spanish Crown was focused on expanding their military so they needed resources such as gold to pay for the constantly increasing military budget. Columbus used this idea to help get resources such as, boats, men, food and weapons from the Spanish Crown. This is important because it describes the desperate need of gold that the Spaniards had which ultimately led to the gruesome acts they committed.

Religion was not a major reason for European exploration because many of the European traders and travelers wanted to get rich by finding gold or some other valuable object, people wanted to travel to another place because of their country’s poverty, disease, or and economic backwardness, and also that the Europeans started traveling more ever since their technology and navigation was more developed.

Gold & Silver: Gold and silver was the main reason of oversees exploitation and conquests for the money it provided for the Spanish empire. Brutal and violent acts were done to possess the metals. France, England, and Dutch also got the goods by stealing from Spain.

The first Spanish conquistadors’ motive that greatly affected the people living in the new world was the search for gold. You can see that this was a big motive by looking in documents two and three. In document two it talks about how Cortez got lots of money for going to the new world and he promised gold and Indian slaves to people going with him. This document shows how Cortez promised something valuable as gold to motivate people to accompany

      Other nations of Europe had other things in mind than silver and gold when exploring the Americas. England, for example, had religious reasons as well for exploring. Their first claim over seas was located in New Foundland, which was discovered by John Cabot. The Enlish got off to a bad start though with the failure to settle Jamestown, Virginia. It was not until the Voyage of the Pilgrims, who were seeking Religious Freedom, that a permanent settlement existed there in the name of England. The new settlers got along well with the natives and even had a great Thanksging” among each other. The Pilgrims brought with them their religion and the spread of Christianity

After King James 1 and Spain made peace he wanted to establish money making colonies in the Americas. Stockholders saw this as an opportunity to look for gold to transfer debtors and the jobless to work as well to teach the Native Americans

The Age of Exploration was a major factor of bringing Europe away from the Dark Ages. They took risks that caused positive and negative outcomes for them and outside forces. Despite the centuries that had passed while in this age, they kept the same basic motives. These were God, Glory, and Gold. Conclusively, this was the time when Europe

The European economic motivation was the main cause of European exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries. New trade, and the search for gold and spices were the three main motives behind Europe’s thirst for exploration and discovery. Trade with Asia and Africa was shrinking, Europe’s gold supply was drained, and spices were growing in demand, forcing Europe to send explorers in search of new resources and trade.

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

     The Age of Exploration was a time of struggle and wealth for many European countries. The pursuit of a trade route to the Far East led many countries across the ocean, looking for the great spice cities that were rumored by Marco Polo. These countries knew that whoever found the shortest or best route would become rich, very quickly. Explorers from many European countries embarked on journeys that not even they had any clue where they were going. This search for the Far East led to many discoveries that would otherwise have never been found.