European Exploration Dbq

1. There were several factors that caused or encouraged European exploration and expansion. The first factor was the Europeans’ long-lasting interest in areas outside Europe. Some writers wrote of an imaginary Christian kingdom in Africa led by Prester John, while other wrote of lands that were rich in resources or were filled with hostile creatures. Muslims long had control of trade routes in Eurasia, but the Mongols reopened the trade routes to Europeans, allowing travelers such as Marco Polo to visit East Asia to find spices and other luxury items. This brings us to our second motive: $$ MONEY $$ and profits. Europeans wanted to find gold and other precious items. Spices were considered extremely valuable by many Europeans and made many

While the slave trade existed long before the Europeans began to explore other areas, the trade expanded dramatically when the Americas were discovered and cane sugar became popular. Since growing cane sugar required many skilled laborers, more slaves were imported to the plantations to make cane sugar. The diseases the Europeans brought to the New World decimated the native populations, which made it necessary for the Europeans to replace their deceased laborers. Many slaves were bought since many of the slaves died in the cargo ships. As a result of the slave trade, many of the laborers working on the plantations were in fact Africans instead of the natives that were originally living in Central and South

When Albuquerque decided to attack Malacca, he claimed that his primary motives were to serve God and the king of Portugal. According the admiral, expelling the Muslims would be a big favor for God. He considered the Muslims living in Malacca as enemies of God who must be expelled. He was also doing a big favor for the King of Portugal since he was wresting control of the spice trade from the Muslims so that Portugal would benefit from the spice trade. He also was helping to weaken the power of the Ottoman Muslims, which was good for the Portuguese.

3. Cortes was impressed by the appearance of the city of Tenochtitlan and the fact that the Aztecs were able to build such a magnificent city without having to use metal tools. People lived almost as well as the Europeans did in Spain. The city was also rich in precious metals such as gold and silver. Cortes went into great details to describe the riches that Montezuma had. Cortes talked of “reproductions made in gold, silver, [and] precious stones.” (Spielvogel 378) It’s quite obvious that Cortes wanted to pry the riches from the hands of the Aztecs, but he justified the destruction of the Aztec Empire with religion. He called the Aztec nation “a barbarous nation shut off from the knowledge of the God.” (Spielvogel 378) This remark showed how religious people are in Spain, to the point where they would pillage and destroy other nations for not being