The Role Of Exploration In The Early 16th Century

Following the discovery of the New World, many Europeans explorers set out to discover and establish new territory in the name of their countries. Explorers from countries including Spain, France, and Great Britain gathered bands of men in order to voyage to the New World. Although various incentives overlapped between these nations, governmental sponsors for these great voyages had differing motivations for settling the New World and did so through different colonization efforts. In this era of history, from mid-15th century to early-17th century, termed the Age of Exploration, European nations were driven by curiosity, fame, and national pride to explore the New World in search of wealth, novel trade routes, and foreign goods. However, amongst these motivations, religious expansion for the Catholic Church was the primary driving force for all European nations involved.

Spanish exploration first began with a series of revolutions. First, the Commercial Revolution generated economic stability. Second, the Intellectual Revolution generated interest in the Earth's composition and the pursuit of exploration. Europe then called for a political revolution to end the disorganized and disorderly rule of its government. This revolution returned order and stability to the government and renewed interest in exploration to search for national wealth. The last of these revolutions was the religious revolution (note Columbus' voyage occurred before this revolution). As more people broke away from the national religion they searched for a place

During the early fifteenth century, Europeans began exploring through the Indian Ocean and to other continents. An era caused with no initial intention, European exploration caused many changes throughout both American and European civilizations. The desire to test human capability, obtain goods non-native to their region, and religious conversions were all reasons to explore. Better known as the Three G's; glory, gold, and God, these motives were all causes for the European Age of Exploration.

The two things that prompted Europe towards exploration and later on colonization was religious conflicts and trade. An example of how religious conflicts prompted Europe towards exploration was the Spanish victory against the Moors. During the 18th century, the Moors, Islamic invaders from North Africa, began to conquer Spain. But throughout the next centuries, Spanish Christians started to reconquer these lands and as a result, they began to organize new independent kingdoms. This religious conflict helped to unite Isabella and Ferdinand. As a result, this unification created a new leadership and power which allowed them to launch Columbus’s voyage. Another religious conflict that prompted European exploration and colonization was the Protestant revolt in Northern Europe which is also known as the Protestant Reformation. This revolt which took place in the early 1500s was when Northern European countries revolted against the Pope’s authority which eventually resulted in religious wars. This conflict inspired Catholics and Protestants to explore the Americas, Asia, and Africa to spread their own version of Christianity. Another factor that prompted exploration was trade. Trade prompted exploration because since the land route to Asia had been captured by the Ottoman Turks, European kingdoms could no longer use it and had to search for new routes for trade. As a result, these kingdoms began to look for new trade routes by exploring through the ocean. In hopes of finding a

With the dawn of the sixteenth century, there came together in Europe both the motivation and the means to explore and colonize territory across the sea. New developments in Europe, such as the Protestant Reformation and the changing political landscape, contributed to the drive towards exploration and colonization. Moreover, the advancement and invention of technology provided Europeans with the ability to make and defend their claims on American land.

Many explorers of the time had dreams of finding new and better routes to other lands and with the help and finances of their home or neighboring countries they were able to find these routes and convert to Christianity those they came in contact with. Spain and England of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries were two such countries who wanted to convert the world to Christianity as well as find new resources or new routes to existing resources while also converting the natives of the land to their religion.

“With the dawn of the 16th century, there came together in Europe both the means and motivation to explore and colonize territory beyond the seas.” This is a statement that reins true to describe the nature of 16th century exploration. It proves valid for many reasons. As European citizens yearned for foreign trade, freedom from religious persecution and the use of new technologies, the blank slate that the 16th century gave aided by the endorsement from the royalty and the citizens of these country’s, provided the perfect canvas for exploration and settlement in the new world.

Spanish Expansion - During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Spanish heavily expanded into North and South America, beginning with the conquests of the Aztec and the Inca. Christopher Columbus began this great expansion, when he landed on the Bahamas and claimed it for Spain. The expansions were led by Spanish Conquistadores. Spain was becoming a dominant power, and therefore the motive was their expansion was for even more wealth, trade, and spread of Christianity. To do this, they set up missionaries to further expand their religion and to develop a work force of American Indians.

Europeans decided to explore parts of the world that were never explored before. Braking the seas they had the certain of the unknown. Hoping to find places to gain money, conquer land, bring the gospel to non-Christians and most of all find the freedom that was taken from them a long time ago they went look for the New World. Many countries such as Portugal, Spain, France and England stand out on the the exploration process. Even though the exploration was very dangerous and risky, it was not enough to stop them. Not everything was successful or easy but it compleat change the world back them and the way we leave today as

The European age of Exploration started for a large variety of reasons: to find a sea route to the spices of Asia, to create and control a greater empire, to expand their knowledge of the world, to spread their religion, and to find different precious metals and stones. A great majority of Europe was encouraged by this age and supported the action of exploration. Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain are a great example of being motivated by the idea of power. They wanted their country to grow and become a bigger empire, which is supported by their promises to Christopher Columbus (Doc 1). These promises encouraged Columbus to start exploring the world, and he eventually came across the New World. Here his religious motivations moved him to try and convert any Indian natives to Christianity and believed that for him to do this, he must trade with them in peace. However, this peace did not last very long and ended in a large disagreements and hostility between the two (Doc 2). Another motivation of the Spanish was said by Queen Isabella, before her death when she said, “Our principal intention, in soliciting from Pope Alexander VI the concession of the lands discovered and to be discovered was to convert their peoples to our holy Catholic faith…”(Doc 4). Her statement confirmed that her main motive for exploration was to spread her Catholic faith. This motivation influenced the positive views of the common people. They viewed the New World as a new start to their life and that it offers new opportunities to them (Doc 3).

The term “virgin soil epidemic” seems quite self-explanatory; broken down, “virgin soil” clearly means untouched land, and “epidemic” is usually a word used to describe something that spreads quickly and affects a large number of people, in this case (and in most other cases), disease. While this term is general and can be applied to nearly any situation that fits the aforementioned criteria, it was coined by Alfred Crosby in reference to the phenomena as it occurred in the western hemisphere of the world; contact between two previously unintroduced groups of people allowed disease to spread due to a lack of immunity in what was considered the “New World” during the European Age of Exploration. It is considered just a subsection of the Columbian Exchange (a term coined by Alfred Crosby as well), which denotes the exchange of a number of varied items between Europe and the New World after 1492, including infectious diseases like smallpox, chicken pox, the plague, yellow fever, and the flu (Marr, Cathey 2010), but it seems that it could be and vital aspect of understanding how Europe and America existed and developed during the Age of Exploration, how they exist now, and how they interact with the world figuratively and literally.

Western Europeans were motivated to explore and colonize the wider world because of their thirst for adventure and exploration. Another reason that motivated Europeans to explore was because of internal and political conflicts that were going on at home, and also the fact that Europe was running out of natural resources like forests. Western Europeans were able to explore for one main reason and that was their highly sophiscated technology that was become more advanced each day. A more specific technological advancement that allowed them to explore were there skills when it came to building ships and the compass which allowed them to see what direction they were going while they were on their voyage. Exploration and discovery was so attractive

During the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, religion played a major role in the efforts of the Europeans to explore and colonize the new world. The Reconquista became over a period of time a sacred mission to many of the Christian rulers and inhabitants of the peninsula. As soon as this period was finished, Spain started focusing on colonization and expansion. Some of the major events that happened during this period were the Portuguese attacks on the Moslem positions in the northern tip of Africa and the search for Christian allies against Islam. There were many factors that motivated the search for the new world. Some of these factors were religious persecution, cheaper route to the

The age of exploration was a time in the 1400s when European ships went on trips to find new trades and trading aliases to pay for the capitalism in Europe. The age of exploration connects to the renaissance because people were getting new trades and discovering new places, which connects to the theme of the rebirth of the renaissance. Three of the key explorers of that time period were Ferdinand Magellan, John Cabot, and Cristoforo Colombo, and some of them were heroes and some were villains.

The Age of Discovery from the 15th to 18th century was a period marked by the discovery of lands, unknown before to the Europeans. The expeditions to find new areas were not only done to find more profitable means for the metropole but also to spread their religion which heavily dominated a person’s life. They wanted to convert the natives to their religion, but if they refused, they saw fit to take over. By doing this, not only did religion spread but also the dominating country, which turned them into an empire. An example of this is Spain, which not only found new lands to bring profit back home but also spread Christianity.