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The New World : The Mundus Novus

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Before any civilized country was established in the New World, the Mundus Novus, there were not many people from the 15th century that ever thought traveling across oceans could be possible nor did they know much about the world beyond their own communities. So, why did they take to the seas? Many historians believe this was motivated by the chance to explore, learn, and understand other cultures. The most willing to expand are the ones who will strive to succeed in the end. Little did they know that doing this would cause a chain reaction for civilization as we know it. These European civilizations stood at the threshold of a new area, but it was this era of time that began for Western European countries to expand and explore, which ultimately transformed European societies for years to come. According to Kreis (2011), “the Portuguese were the first country to send ships, then the Spanish and finally, in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, British, French and Dutch ships set out to discover a world, the New World” (historyguide.org, 2011). These long voyages brought many complications, but the possibility for wealth one could find in other parts of the world outweighed any negative outcomes. European powers were motivated by many factors that drove them to look overseas for new territories; desire for wealth and power, and improvements in technology for the “discovered” territories and peoples as a result of European exploration and expansionism, and its overall

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