Why Europeans Sought To Study

While Constantinople was being sacked by the Ottomans in 1453, changing the most key trading hub in the world to the Islamic stronghold of Istanbul, Europe was suffering from the unjust role of monarchs. With exploration to the Americas and West Indies beginning in 1492. Europeans had various reasons for departing their homelands and going to settle in the new world, including religious, commercial, and developmental reasons.

European countries had lacked many resources like food, clothing, and technology. The products that were coming to them from Asia were attracting more and more Europeans. Therefore, to have more profit from trade, the Europeans wanted to avoid the Muslim intermediaries and have direct access to the trading destinations such as India, China, and Africa. When the countries from Europe sent explorers to find new lands, they had sent them fully equipped with fleet of ships, gold, and food. Whenever these explorers had discovered there intended destination, they would take over the harbor and create a trade post.

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.

Most of all, the Europeans were seeking wealth. When they arrived, not only did they find that there were already people here, but they also came to realize that the gold they were seeking didn’t exist. Rather

The Renaissance and the Age of Exploration brought on new ideas, technology, and tools that allowed the Europeans to travel across sea. The Europeans traveled to Africa in search of grains, spices, ivory, gold and slaves. Upon further exploration they found China. In China they found what they were searching for, they found silk cloth, spices and goods. The Europeans wanted to gain power by expanding their empire and search for gold. New technology, firepower, greed, and curiosity drove the Europeans to explore western

In the words of David Arnold, gold, jewels, silks, carpets, spices, and porcelain suggested luxury, wealth, skilled artisans and thriving craft industries, and it was this image of Africa and Asia’s riches that helped inspire the first European voyages of discovery (Arnold 11). Europe could essentially see the wealth of the countries that manufactured the goods that Europe received and wanted the same wealth

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 .

The main motivation of European exploration was economic motives. People were beginning to become more interested in traveling by sea to reach Asia and Africa and all their riches(Duiker,494). The spice trade was what linked Europe to Asia, and the gold trade linked Europe to Africa. Furthermore, in the 15th and 16th centuries, as the economy and purchasing power of Europe developed and increased, the spice demand grew at a steady rate(Arnold,12). Therefore, spices were one of the few things that made overseas trade possible. Europe did not have very much gold to begin with, so ultimately the gold mines that they did possess were emptied. After 1400, Europe started trading with the areas that produced gold, increasing their amount of gold. Gold was very important to Europe, because not only was it used for decorations, but also their currency. In 1500, Portugal was controlling the flow of gold to Europe, making Portugal much wealthier(Buckler,500). Eventually, slaves were included in the gold

In 1492, spice trade led to Europe's exploration and discovery of the Americas, their advanced weaponry allowed for the colonization of the Americas and also slave trade in Africa. Europe was on the verge of an economic explosion before this time and the Columbian Exchange and Triangular Exchange between Europe, Africa, and the Americas was the push they needed for their economy to boom. The Europeans began to grow wealthy at the expense of Africa and the Americas. The growing economy started to create a middle class and the Europeans began to see themselves as superior, socially and economically, especially

During the 15th through 16th centuries, The Portuguese and Spanish explorers were very attracted to valuable resources, new land, and trade routes. These motives encouraged them to seek out new explorations and search for items that would benefit their home countries. Common resources that both the Spanish and Portuguese sought out included silks, porcelain, spices, persian horses, silver, and gold (Chasteen, 2001). Although the Portuguese and Spanish explored and sought out new land for many of the same reasons, they also had some different causes for exploration which were often very specific to the needs and goals of Portugal and Spain.

In 1488, Bartholomeu Dias led the Portuguese exploration efforts by reaching the Cape of Good Hope. Then in 1498, Vasco da Gama was able to sail all of the way to India via travel around the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean. Due to these voyages Europeans were able to obtain spices and other goods from this region. By opening up trading routes from Europe to Asia the diet of the average citizen became richer; helping to extend the life expectancy rate. In addition to trading opportunities opened up with these countries the Europeans used these journeys to spread Christianity. Whether this is a positive or negative effect is based on every person’s personal preference. Also, due to these explorations the population of the world appeared

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

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

Europeans were motivated to conquest to gain money, and trade was one of the channels where they found it. However, during

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.