Religion was not the main motivation of European exploration to any extent. The economic motive was the main motive for European exploration, and economic weakness was second. Religion was the third most responsible motive for European exploration. The economic motive was more responsible for European exploration than religion was. As quoted from the passage, “… the underlying vitality of the European economy, and the demand it created for more trade and new resources, provided the fundamental dynamic behind European expansionism in the 15th and 16th centuries”(Arnold 11). The quotation explains that the economic motivation was the greatest and most basic motive for European expansionism. Thus, the religious motive was less important. As stated, …show more content…
The passage explains that Portugal was isolated and had no chance at expanding in Europe (Arnold 22).Portugal, a small country on the Iberian Peninsula, was a leader of European expansion. Its economic weakness caused by its unfortunate geographical location, was isolated and kept out of trade. This isolation caused it to be at the fore front of exploration. A Portugal and Spain were the leaders of expansion, and they were driven by economic weakness, one can con conclude that economic weakness was major motive for European exploration. Religion was not the reason why many countries explored, and no major exploration leader was driven solely by religion. More religious countries that had better economies, such as Italy, were not exploring at the time, leading to the conclusion that religion was not the major motive of exploration, rather economic weakness was. Religion was also not as major of a motive as economic weakness was because many of the countries exploring were the countries that were in it for the resources, trade, and power. Countries that were isolated were forced to seek “greatness” by exploring the unknown (McKay et al., 499). This quote shows how the motivation for countries to explore, was their economic weakness, rather than religion. Religion may have been an added incentive, but economic opportunities were more
Toward the end of pre-colonial times in Europe, due to the fall of Constantinople, many European nations felt the need to find an alternate route to the East Indies. The trade of rare goods such as spices, rice, exotic fruits and silk fabrics were much in demand, but came at extreme prices. In the beginning of the ‘Age of Exploration’, Portugal was in the forefront with the early explorers Henry the Navigator, Zarco and Tristao Vaz Teixeira, and Diogo Silves discovering the Madeira Islands, the Azores, and the exploration of Africa respectively, but King John the II of Portugal was unconvinced by Christopher Columbus’s pleas to fund his plan to sail West to the East Indies. Columbus made many demands for self-profit, including ten percent of any riches with which he returned, and even an ‘Admiralty’. Subsequently, Columbus took his plans to Queen Isabella of Spain. Spain acquiesced, and Columbus set off on his fateful journey. The Roman Catholic Church was very interested in expanding the Christian faith during this time and applied its influence on the monarchy. Religion also played a large personal role as Columbus truly believed that God spoke to him, and guided his hand. Additionally, at this time in Europe, land and food were at a premium. The monarchs of the era were fully aware that the acquisition of more land, slave labor and possible natural resources would greatly increase their power, prestige and subsequent wealth. After learning of Columbus’ successful return and the Treaty of Tordesillas (which divided the New World between Spain and Portugal), King Henry VII of England threw his hat into the ring and sent John Cabot sailing from Bristol on an attempt to find a shorter route to the ‘Indies’. Not to be left out in ...
Their main goal was to come to the New World and spread Christianity, and they were determined to do so. Document 1 explains that from the minute they arrived in the Americas, the Europeans were instilling their religion into the Native people through friendship and gifts. Not to mention, Document 6 states, “missions were built to help spread Christianity.” It also says, “missions and settlements helped spread European languages.” By looking at Latin America today we can see how much the Spanish and Portuguese have helped mold what it is today.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus came across North America accidentally during his voyage to the East Indies. Columbus’s discovery marked the beginning of a new era; with it the Europeans became aware of the opportunities the New World offered. This encouraged others to set out and explore the North and South America in the 1500s. Although colonial America was governed under the British rule, it developed differently than Britain. Since Colonial America was diversified, it offered new opportunities, different religions, and different political views than Britain.
Europeans during the 16th Century had made unique technological and intellectual advancements, they expanded their knowledge and continued to spread their dominance across the world. These advancements perpetuated the idea that their race was superior to other races and that they had the right to hold other groups of people accountable for what they saw as transgressions. Europeans felt the need to control and make sure that all groups of people were following their moral state of conducts. In History of A Voyage to the Land Of Brazil, Jean De Lery introduces the main motivation of the Europeans journey to the Americas by emphasizing that it was influenced by Christian values ( Lery 3). This shows how the concept of Christianity is important
During the 15th century Europe had numerous changes. The population expanded rapidly which gave rise to new classes of merchants. European nations were very wealthy when it came to spices. Therefore, they traded them on the land route from Asia. These land routes were controlled by the Turkish Empire, which lead to many problems for the countries who were trying to trade these spices and acquire other valuables. This then steered them to begin searching for other routes of trade to essentially cut out the “middle man”. A race then began to erupt between many European countries such as Portugal, Spain, France, and England. These four countries all wanted to be the first to discover new land. However, Portugal pulled ahead and sailed along
I believe many of the motivators for the Europeans to move to and colonize North and South America was due to material gain and religious freedom. First I would like to talk about several of the material gains that were either made or expected to be made in the move to explore North and South America's. When the plans were being set out for the new colonies and the different propels that were laid out some of the ideas that were look at heavily were the material gains. One gain was the level of workload in some areas. It was believed that by moving to the United States that farming living conditions and making a living for themselves would be made much easier. An example of this was the Holland plantation. The settlers of that area could see their lives and the life of their colony decreasing severalty due to the heavy amount of work required and only made harder by area that they lived in. They finally made the decision to leave Holland for the United States after seeing that a lot of their children were becoming decrepit at a young age because they had to take on their own work load but also that of their parents which was too much of a burden for most of them to handle. The also had a problem with their youth for several different reasons would decide to leave their colony and peruse their own goals or just move into a larger city usually getting into trouble and going against most of what they were taught by their parents and their families. The situation that this colony was in though was not felt by most of settlers that chose to explore and colonize the Americas. Some of the other material gains that were looked at and therefore a driving force for some people moving to the Americas were farming. It was known that unlike in most of the other regions at the time land was amply in the Americas at that time. With a lot of the new settlers being farmers this was a great thing for them because it gave them a great chance to buy a large enough piece of land for them to sustain themselves as well as a family at the same time being able to look ahead to their children's future knowing that they would be able to do the same and not have to worry about being able to get land.
Before Columbus landed in the West Indies in 1492, The Spanish Inquisition made it known to anyone within Spain’s domain of influence that if a person was not of the Catholic religion, they were to be punished severely and sometimes even fatally. This influence would undoubtedly be brought over to the Americas a century later, as the colonization of the New World would begin by then. While it was very essential for the Spanish (as well as the Portuguese) to improve their economy by using the resources they found in Latin America, it seemed to a number of them as if that was the only reason for being there, or the main reason at the very least. During the Spanish Inquisition and from that point after, it was the Pope’s main goal, to convert everyone to Roman Catholicism; an opportune moment arrived as the Americas were found, along with the Natives who resided there who were waiting to be converted.
An ocean route was sought to the countries that were believed to contain riches beyond European comprehension, thus avoiding having to pay hundreds of miscellaneous middlemen involved with trade, also making for a shorter journey. These motivations were accompanied by the desire to convert the heathen to Christianity, which had been declining since the rise of Islam. By uniting some of the Western Asian countries with Christianity, Europeans hoped to form a formidable team against the Turks and recover the valuable Holy Land (Morison, p.55).
Since the day Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean, religion and commerce has played a major role in shaping the New World. Religion defines cultures, changes history, and molds civilizations. During the seventeenth century in the New England and Southern colonies religion influenced colonists lives. Although the majority of settlers bound for the colonies started in Europe, religion and commerce would lead them in different directions. The New England colonies became defined by their religion, while the Southern colonies were defined by their production of tobacco.
“Three explorers from the Age of Exploration” Age of Explorations was a time of discovery of the new world during the 15th through 17th century. Many Explorers were in search for new passage ways, new trading ports, new land, new spices, and riches. The three explorers discussed in this paper is Henry Hudson, Jacques Cartier, and Francisco Pizarro. Henry Hudson was an explorer whose main purpose was to find a route to Asia from Europe, he had a series of three voyages trying to achieve this. Jacques Cartier was sent to find riches and a route to Asia as well.
The other reason for exploration was everyone wanted more land to expand their power. Both England and France got into multiple confrontations over land. With at least only 4 wars, England and France spent at least 32 years at war with each other (Document 7). Of those wars Britain mostly had the best outcomes of them. With Britain acquiring all this land, the slave trade then started appearing.Slaves were put on ships with horrible conditions (Document 4). Expansion of the new world was a major demand and also was a cause for the slave
Exploration was economically, politically, and religiously motivated. All explorers had an objective before embarking on their voyages; however, not all explorers went about their expeditions the same. Christopher Columbus described in his journal how his main goal was to aid himself and Spain by treating the Natives and their lands that he encountered as a means to profitable goods. Samuel de Champlain had contrasting ideas, and he allied himself with certain tribes giving the French additional control. Champlain’s friendliness, concern, and cooperation with the natives took him past the economic dealings and into a more trustworthy relationship.
Exploration led to colonization and was carried out for many reasons but the main reasons include religion, status, economic purposes, resources and militarily tactical purposes. Much of early colonization was for trading of raw materials between continents and countries. Dominant religions sought to spread gospel and “civilize” the indigenous people by making them conform to Western beliefs and ways. Status and recognition was also pursued by country leaders w... ... middle of paper ... ...
The hunger for more natural resources and the need to trade for exotic goods were the main causes for European exploration and colonization. Even though religion was used as a “pretext” for European expeditions, “gold” was the real motive (1). Cippola further explains that, “Through the idea of mission and crusade the conquistadores succeeded where the medieval merchants failed and were able to reconcile the antithesis between business and religion that had plagued the conscience of medieval Europe”(2). Cipolla also discards Malthusian pressure as a possible cause for European expansion. Devastating and recurrent epidemics were constantly keeping the population growth in check and “no population pressure of any relevance was felt in Europe till the second half of the eighteenth century” (3). By eliminating these two powerful driving forces as the motivation for expansion, Cipolla claims that European expansion was basically a commercial venture (4). This expansion, being a very aggressive commercial venture, has some effect on the environment. The Europeans exploited the natural resources of the places they ‘discovered’. Excessive mining for natural resources and deforestation for shipbuilding are examples of environmental damages caused by European expansion (5). As the expansion spread throughout the world and the European Empires grew bigger and stronger, so did the pressure put on the environment to sustain this expansion.
Throughout history, essentially all groups/communities of people have participated in trade. A group’s activity in trade reflects on the entire region they’re from. Religion used to play a big role in what effect trade had on a person. Some say that it is almost a sin to partake in trade and selling goods in general; others say it is not really an issue.