Why Did Europeans Expand Into America, Africa and Asia Between 1415 and 1715?

Magellan was given credit for being the first to travelling around the world. He had begun his voyage on September 20th, 1519. Magellan was fascinated and determined by the idea of finding the Spice Island. Magellan had done many minor explorations before. The exploration of Columbus gave him the idea of a successful expedition to The Caribbean. Magellan had asked the Portuguese king to support his expedition but the king had denied his offer. So he went to Spanish Royalty to ask for help which was granted. The Spanish King agreed to give an armada of five ships. Magellan should have been defended because he is determined, he has good navigation skills and he was religious.

Upon the United States’ inception as an independent country, the concept of expansion began to slowly root itself as a desirable vision among government officials and common citizens alike. As early as the beginning of the nineteenth century, these initial thoughts and visions of expansion began to cultivate into an achievable reality. With boundless territory to conquer and a growing sense of nationalism, many citizens of the United States felt that it was their duty and obligation to expand from coast to coast. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the United States continued to expand westward across the continent while also shifting focus on expanding its international power and presence by conquering foreign countries

Early modern Europe, specifically Spain and England, was going through major growing pains in the period before discovery and settlement of the New World. Recovery from the Black Plague, religious reformation, and newly formed nation-states were on the forefront of these changes. The political environment, economy, and religion were all intertwined during the upheaval of the Old World which proved to be a driving force in the search for and eventual settlement of new lands.

1519: a Spanish armada of five ships set sail that would soon be the first to circumnavigate the globe. Their captain, a Portuguese noble, was an accomplished student of cartography and astronomy. Europe’s cravings for spices sent Columbus to Asia, and into the barrier that was the Americas. Magellan’s expedition sought to find a way through, on a mission to bring a new trade route and immense wealth to Spain. Through the crew’s starvation, two mutinies against him, and his harsh personality and lack of accomplishment, Magellan proved his life was not worth saving.

Lastly the third reason why Magellan led himself to his deathbed. Magellan’s navigational skills were poor. According to Over the Edge of the World, By Harper Collins “he regularly sent small scouting parties in the long boats”, “they would go and come back with news of the findings.. And the rest would follow” Gines de Mafra recalled. This evidence shows that Magellan had planned the way easily, but doing it was difficult. Magellan purely relied on his search parties to go throughout the way. You might argue that he still got through and reached the spice islands, but he reached there with just a handful of men in his Armada.

During the 1890’s, the United States began building and advancing their economy, as well as focusing more independently on becoming an even more powerful nation. Not only did the Americans begin to create a stronger national military and navy, they also began to look overseas towards the Pacific Ocean for resources and territories; this is when America began to look less like a national power and more like an imperial power. There were many reasons as to why the United States began to expand between 1880-1929, two of which include the military opportunities countries abroad had to offer, such as Pearl Harbor, as well as the domestic and political objectives the U.S. felt obligated to fulfill. Although, there were many important reasons for the United States to began to expand, the most significant reason for the expansionist foreign policy was the economic resources and opportunities other foreign countries had to offer the U.S.

During the period of 1492 to 1750, Europe experienced drastic changes during their Age of Discovery. As a result of contact and colonization, Western Europe’s economy, political, social, and military systems changed, but also maintained certain aspects that enabled them to build strong civilizations. Such changes include increased (international) trade routes, more centralized governments such as monarchies, decreased unifying influence of the Catholic Church, and increased interest in military conquest and expansion.

The European expansion during the 15th and 16th centuries lead to major economic expansion throughout Europe and the newly established

It is evident that in 16th century Europe there existed both the motivation and the means to explore and colonize territory across the seas. As it can be said, “With the dawn of the 16th century, there came together in Europe both the motivation and the means to explore and colonize territory across the seas.” This statement is true to a large extent, especially in the areas of trade and technology. The physical means to explore and colonize came from the advances in technology that the Europeans had gone through, allowing them to sail far across the oceans and take over native populations easily. The motivation, on the other hand, came from trade-related reasons, such as the desire to trade new resources, to find gold, and to find new trade routes. Without the technology or trade at the dawn of the 16th century, there would not have been the means nor the motivation for Europeans to explore and colonize the New World.

1). The Nations of Europe sought to expand their empire because they were on the verge of overpopulation.Between 1550 and 1600 the population grew from three million to four million people. Also, England and Spain were at a war for power. The Spanish attempts at colonizing the New World had been extremely successful, for they had gained both wealth and power. The English did not see such success, as their ships would crash, be lost to the seas, or their colonization efforts would cease to be useful. Through the Spaniards control over the Americas they had gained a massive naval army, noted as the Spanish Armada. The Spanish attempt to invade England in 1588 failed which lead to the beginning of the fall of the Spanish empire in the New World.

Religious motives of the ‘Old Land’ of Europe’s exploration can be traced back to the days of the Crusades down to the 11th and 15th century, where the European Christians tried to invade and claim the city of Jerusalem from its Muslim control. The struggle between the Islamic rule and the European Christians planted the ideology of ‘Reconquista’ in the latter’s religion. It influenced the Christian religion with an air of religious intolerance. With the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, European Catholic’s interests in colonizing newer lands and declare global dominance earned a new momentum. And strong Catholic nations of Spain and Portugal were the

Ferdinand Magellan is the son of Portuguese nobility and a student of cartography and astronomy. Magellan had a goal to discover a western sea route through the Americans that led to the Spice Islands. Throughout this voyage Magellan wanted more such as his own fleet which was refused to be given by the King of Portugal. Instead, the Spanish king provided an armada or fleet or ships of five. Magellan employed a group of men in their teenage years and twenties which later staged a mutiny.

Early European cultural and material changes were due to exploration. Although European states were encompassed in war, they still set out for exploration. Allison Games in The Web of Empires argues that globetrotters and their adventures offer a way to understand how Europe went from being a weak state in the mid 1500s to a powerful, global kingdom by 1660. Throughout the 1500s, global discoveries and exploration brought new wealth and prestige to Europe’s monarchs. Geographic discoveries were integrating Europe into the world economic system.

Many scholars around the world know that Ferdinand Magellan was the first to circumnavigate the world, but few people know that Sir Francis Drake was the first to circumnavigate the world and live to tell the tale afterwards (Campbell 207). In order to complete such expeditions of circumnavigating the world, Sir Francis Drake had to learn special talents and task before embarking on his expeditions. He was given the opportunity by his mother to go learn and train with his older cousin, John Hawkins, and John’s dad, William Hawkins about anything and everything pertaining to ships, politics, and government issues (Kelsey 9). After his training, he began to go on more trips across the sea to

During the Era of exploration the Europeans traveled to the Americas. The americas were a brand new place and there were new people as well, the indians. This new place was large and vast and there was so much to know but was the europeans coming to the americas a negative or a positive aspect of world history? Europeans coming to the americas was a negative impact in world history.