Why Did European Countries Want To Explore The New World Essay

It is evident that the drive to colonize this new nation had chiefly been for economic purposes and the fact that the European continent was becoming overpopulated. The New World had been discovered by explorers who wanted to locate a new route to India so that trade could be better established. However, once what is now known as the United States was founded, there were more opportunities for a variety of things, including slave labor, colonization, entrepreneurship, and even an escape from religious persecution and the social and political system of Europe. As a result of this drive for change, the European people aggressively came to America so that they could make changes, and this would be on behalf of the Native American people who already claimed the land.

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

European settlers first came to the New World for multiple reasons. It started with Christopher Columbus wanting to find a shorter and quicker route to the East. Failing to do so, he made the New World’s existence known to the Old World. It wasn’t just the Europeans who decided to come to the New World. The Spanish government was informed of the New World

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, New Spain and New France came to the New world for two different reasons. New France came to the new world in search of a new west passage and Spain came in search of gold and religious freedom. They both wanted to spread their religious beliefs through missionaries. The Spanish were the first to establish large settlements. The Spanish had over 200 cities by 1570. The French didn’t start colonizing until 1604. The first French colony was Acadia and Quebec which came years later in 1608. The Spanish had a huge head start on colonization over New France but they both thrived in their own ways by using Natural Resources and slaves.

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.

Spanish and English had similar motivations for exploration of the New World, such as gaining land, goods from the natives, and gold. However, their motivations also differ greatly. The Spanish conquistadors also gained slaves from the native people, as well as spreading the word of Christianity. The English settlers came to the New World to get away from the religious oppression in England and to practice religion freely, and to grow tobacco to send back to England. The Spanish gained much more land quickly because, upon landing in places like the Caribbean and Brazil, because of their conquering and enslaving of the natives. The English came to the New World much less prepared,

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.

*The Age of Exploration saw searches of wealth, new lands, and conversion of christianity. Europeans ed the first globe trading empires and would they would make trips to the western hemisphere.

As early as the fifteenth century, Europeans began to become eager to discover the New World that was unknown to them. With the concerns of rapid population growth, commerce, new learning, and the rise of competing for nation states, they set out for new adventures and discovery. For a long time, Spain and Portugal were the only European powers with New World colonies.

The early voyages by the Portuguese and Spanish were motivated by gold, trade and the spread of the Catholic faith through religious conversion. The voyages of a few adventurers show that the Spanish and Portuguese goals were to spread Catholicism, expand trade, and expand the kingdom of the Spanish and the Portuguese to the new lands they’ve discovered. These adventures were Christopher Columbus who attempted to find a new route to Asia to extend Spain’s trade and to colonize, Bartholomew Columbus and his successful founding of Santo Domingo, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and his

Impacts of European expansion reached across the world and affected more than the expanding European powers and their colonies in the new world. Life in the world changed when these two cultures that were directly opposite of one another collided. Europe was filled with greed for resources and wealth, the Indigenous people living on these resources were living a simple sustainable life with next to no government or regulation. Once the new world was set up Europeans who ran these new territories called colonists today developed their own society and way of living and would end up revolting against the homeland.

The European conquest for establishing North American colonies began with various motivations, each dependent on different, and/or merging necessities: economics, the desire to flee negative societal aspects, and the search for religious freedoms. Originally discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 in search for a trade route to Cathay (China), North America remained uninhabited, excluding the Native American establishments. Following this discovery, Spain –along with other European nations such as France, England, Sweden and the Netherlands– soon began the expedition to the new land with vast expectations. Driven by economic, societal, and religious purposes, the New World developed into a diversely structured colonial establishment

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).

Spain, Portugal, and France desired to build Catholic empires in the new world. Columbus thought himself to be chosen by God to embark on his journey. The Dutch and English desired to convert the natives of the new world to Protestantism. Many went simply to be free to practice their faith according to their own conscience and in their own form.

The reasons they felt the need to go to the new world are very clear. For starters, they came to the new world for more freedom of religion. They wanted to be free to believe in whatever religious practice that they wished without the fear of being seen in a negative light by those around them. Groups like Pilgrims, Puritans, and other Puritan like groups left in the hope of being able to practice their beliefs in peace.