- Because Spain and Portugal were rivals, they were always trying to out beat each other. Since the Portuguese set up trading posts in Africa first, other European countries started and later on Spain set up posts too. Because the Portuguese didn’t like taking water routes, it took them longer to get to India through land to get spices and jewels. While this was happening, the Spanish people became unified and seeing that they were now stronger, planned to outstrip their rivals of the Indian
People living the the 15th century had multiple reasons for venturing beyond its confinement of land. Scientific curiosity of the world played a major part in the advancement of naval travel, but it was not the main cause of exploration in these times. The Age of Exploration was sparked by Europeans wanting to find sea routes to East Asia, which they called the Indies. Merchants and crusaders were bringing goods to Europe from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. These trade routes were controlled by the Muslims and the Italians. However, flaws
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 European conquest of America began as an offshoot of the quest for a sea route to India, China, and the islands of the East Indies, the source of the silk, tea, spices, porcelain, and other luxury goods on which international trade in the early modern era centered. Profit and piety-the desire to eliminate Islamic middlemen and win control of the lucrative trade for Christian Western Europe-combined to inspire the quest for a direct route to Asia. Long before Columbus sailed, Europeans had dreamed of a land of abundance, riches, and ease beyond the western horizon. They hoped America would bring them a
This decade portrays the exploration of the Europeans to the American colonies which allowed England, France, Holland, Spain, and British to colonize with other lands and obtain power by expanding their territory. Nevertheless, England rose as the country with the dominant colonial power. Throughout this decade, the demand for silver and other valued items influenced trade globally by commercializing and strengthening European trade. In addition, the desire for power and control enriched the economy of the Europeans. The rise of European colonization also shaped cultural globalization since traders established various ethnic societies in foreign regions. European explorers were to stop at nothing in order to achieve success in expanding their
In 1492, spice trade led to Europe's exploration and discovery of the Americas, their advanced weaponry allowed for the colonization of the Americas and also slave trade in Africa. Europe was on the verge of an economic explosion before this time and the Columbian Exchange and Triangular Exchange between Europe, Africa, and the Americas was the push they needed for their economy to boom. The Europeans began to grow wealthy at the expense of Africa and the Americas. The growing economy started to create a middle class and the Europeans began to see themselves as superior, socially and economically, especially
century in which Europeans embarked on extensive overseas expeditions. European nations, such as Portugal, Spain, England, and the Netherlands, participated heavily in global trade and set up many trade colonies and routes. Many people will say that the European’s only reason for exploration was to spread Christianity, obtain gold, and gain glory through their conquests and acquisition of lands. Some people might also say that the Ottomans heavily influenced the Europeans to participate in this period of exploration. Although the goals of “God, gold, and glory” are often associated with the Age of Exploration, the Ottoman Empire had a greater influence on the desire of European states to establish overseas empires and employ mercantilist economy
On the other side he discovered a vast body of water that he named "South
Europeans were motivated to conquest to gain money, and trade was one of the channels where they found it. However, during
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 .
European explorers first landed on the shores of what would later become North America more than 500 years ago. Not long after the first explorers had entered the "New World" they found out that they were not alone on this new frontier. Their neighbors in this new land were the Native Americans who had been there for centuries, virtually unaware of life outside the continent. Thus began an inconsistent and often times unstable relationship between the European settlers and the North American Indians. Two nations who had particularly interesting relationships with the Native Americans were the British and the French, both of whom took different approaches to their relations with the Indians economically as well
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
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
During the late 1400s, many technological innovations has increased the development of navigation and sailing. These innovations opened the doors to the Age of Exploration, an era that started in the 15th century, where it’s effects are still seen in the world today. It began as few mere explorations to numerous expeditions. An age where Europeans would go explore, expand, and colonize new found land. It was also known as a race between the European countries for fame, wealth, and power. Due to these explorations, the trade network has significantly expanded, which improved the European economy and has increased the geographic knowledge of the world. The cause of these explorations arose due to the appealing demand for fame, wealth, and knowledge as well as to increase the faith of Christianity.
India also traded gold, silver and jewels. Several countries wanted these various types of riches. Before the new route to India was discovered all these products were coming back to Europe through one single trade route,however, this trade route had only one way to travel from Europe to India was over land. This was a very long and expensive route. When Vasco Da Gama discovered the trade route from Asia to Europe it effected several countries. He become rich and benefited the creation of the primary European trading empire. Vasco Da Gama influenced the society in trade . Only portuguese ships and Portuguese merchants in Europe could sell spices,gold and cloth produced in India and that is how Portugal became the center of sea trade and controlled the sea route between Asia and