The Influence Of Western European Exploration

European exploration was a time period in European history when European countries explored and discovered new parts of the world. The desire to grow rich and spread Christianity alongside advances in sailing technology lead to European exploration. European countries wanted the same success in trading with Asia as Italy, so they sought a direct trade route to Asia to bypass the Italian merchants who sold their goods from Asia at unreasonable prices. The spread of Christianity also led to European exploration because they believed it was their sacred duty to convert non-Catholics, which led to discovering new people and converting them. Lastly, advances in sailing technology, such as the caravel, astrolabe, and compass, led to European exploration by allowing for longer voyages and greater distances being able to be crossed.The desire to grow rich, spread Christianity, and advances in sailing technology led to European exploration.

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.

The factors that contributed to the development of western European interests of exploration, and discovery was the desire of wealth, power, the status competition, and a push among the Christians set for new converts, also the new trade routes. Also the Black death, and the decline of feudalism, and finally the impact of renaissance contributed to the development.

No one can deny there are hardships people face when exploring new lands and creating governments far from home. European exploration was no exception. Though there were costs and benefits to European exploration, it is apparent through analysis of primary sources that the benefits outweighed the costs. Through the money made by trading and farming, the spread of Christianity to Indians, and the political power gained by conquering land, there were overwhelming benefits on the Spanish side.

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.

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

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 .

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and his companions, Andres Dorantes, Alonzo del Castillo Maldonado, and Estevan were the sole survivors of a four hundred men expedition. The group of them went about the friendly Indian tribes preforming miracles of healing, with the power of Christianity. At one time five sick persons were brought into the camp, and the Indians insisted that Castillo should cure them. At sunset he pronounced a blessing over the sick, and all the Christians united in a prayer to God, asking him to restore the sick to health, and on the following morning there was not a sick person among them. De Vaca and his companions reached the Pacific coast where the Indians, showed signs of civilization, living in houses covered with straw, wearing cotton clothes and dressed skins, with belts and ornaments of stone, and cultivating their fields, but had been driven therefrom by the brutal Spanish soldiery and had taken refuge in the mountains, de Vaca and his comrades, being regarded as emissaries from the Almighty, exercised such power over these untutored savages that, at their bidding, the Indians returned to their deserted habitations, and began again to cultivate their fields, the assurance being given them by de Vaca and his companions that henceforth they would

Whenever you hear about the European Exploration, or ‘The Age of Discovery’’ you hear a lot about what the Europeans gained from it, while they did learn a lot from this and gather a lot of new resources they were not the only ones affected. The Age of Discovery affected more areas that just Europe, it also affected the Americas and Africa. To prove this we must first know what European Exploration is.

Multiple events in Europe affected colonization of the New World around 1492. Colonization is when a mother country creates settlements in other areas. European states were looking to colonize in order to inherit profit for self-sustainability. Resources and ideas have sparked the interest of many European voyagers. It encouraged them to explore in order to meet the needs and wants of rulers and the people. Also, explorers were searching for innovations that could be made in their country. The Crusades, the growth of commerce, the growth of population, the rise of nations, the Renaissance, and the improvement in sailing technology are events and trends that motivated European exploration.

European exploration occurred when the Europeans started traveling to other countries in search for many things that were outside of Europe. There were good and bad impacts that the Europeans had on the New World. As a result of European explorations, disease was spread throughout Native American tribes, Europeans wanted to expand their colonies, and other cultures were enslaved because of European exploration.

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

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.

European exploration wasn’t only entirely based of one motivation in the 15th and 16th century. Although many voyages of discovery were started in search of wealth, religion was also a big reason for exploring other continents. Religion wasn’t the main motivation for European exploration in the 15th and 16th century. Instead, the main motivation was economic motives, which was closely followed by religion, and to a lesser extent was technological developments.