Rise of the West

The voyages of Columbus and Vasco de Gamma are often thought of as the beginning of an era, an era in which the inevitable dominance of Europeans came to be. These landmark voyages, however, would not have been nearly as significant if not for the broader cultural and contingent factors at work. The actions of European explorers and colonizers were heavily influenced by the previous decades of war and crusading. The policies and organizational structures of empires in the New World and on the Indian Ocean allowed Europeans to take advantage of that particular moment in history when they were able to exert their influence abroad with varying degrees of success.

The age of discovery was a time when the Portuguese nations were involved in trade with nations in Asia. While trading they encountered religions that were completely different from their own. Those who had resources that the Portuguese wanted were considered sophisticated nations. As far as sailing goes the Cape of good Hope was a spot that had worked in the crews favor when sailing to India and against them when sailing to Portugal. Piracy was also common around this area.

The Age of Exploration was one of the World History’s most important turning point. Before the Age of Exploration and right after the Crusades, trade between Asia and Europe had increased. However, there was a major setback and that was the prices of the goods that were traded. Starting from China, an object could be traded into India (for example) and then traded into Saudi Arabia for a higher price. And later on it would get traded into Europe for an even higher price. So the Europeans had to pay the bigger price for something that could have been worth less by going to the source itself. That lead to the Age of Exploration. Using big ships with huge sails, Europeans set out to find ways to trade with China and India by going around Africa or by simply going west into the Atlantic to find another way to get to China or India (that’s what Columbus had thought). The Portuguese started off the Age of Exploration by finding a way to get to India by goi...

Without an access to the silk and spices they desired, Europe soon turned their interest elsewhere for a trade route. In 1492, Spanish explorers were off on an expedition in search of a westward sea route to the Indies. The expedition was led by Italian explorer Christopher Columbus who landed upon “unknown, uncharted land” in which he believed to be the Indies, but turned out to be the Americas. Columbus, believin...

During the European exploration, which was in the 15th and 16th century, explorers were sailing around to explore, trade, spread, or get new things. These places were throughout Europe (Spain, Portugal, etc.), America (The colonies), and through Asia. These explorers were sailing through the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. These explorations started from Portugal with Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama and this time of exploration spread to different countries and other explorers such as Christopher Columbus, Hernando Cortez and more. All this exploration was all done with new sailing innovations and navigation schools (which was created by Prince Henry) which taught people to explore and sail across the sea. Some major points of European exploration were the discovery of the new world (America), which was a new place never explored by the Europeans. The exploration of the coastlines of the Indian Ocean and the China Sea, as well as explorers trying to find new and faster sea routes to different places, which was also important. European exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries was motivated by God (spreading Christianity), gold (wealth), and glory (becoming glorious for your country

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

The motives that inspired the Europeans to explore were economic specifically the rise of capitalism in Europe. Merchants, adventurers, and government officials wanted to find precious metals and expand the areas of trade, especially for the spices of the East. Second, was religious zeal. Europeans were motivated by their desire to increase the faith of Jesus Christ. Also, curiosity and a spirit of adventure also played a role in European expansion. The factors that explained their success were first, by the second half of the fifteenth century, European monarchies had increased both their authority and their resources and were in a position to turn their energies beyond their borders. Second, the Spanish monarchy was strong enough by the sixteenth century to pursue power both on the Continent and beyond. Third, by the end of the fifteenth century, European states had a level of knowledge and technology that enabled them to achieve a regular series of voyages beyond Europe. Fourth, cartography had developed allowing Europeans to possess fairly

While many civilizations have traveled at various points, it was the Europeans who, beginning in the sixteenth century, began to travel the most. “It was the Europeans who went out to the peoples of Africa, Asia, and the Americas, and never the reverse” (Adas, p. 2). As soon as European ships could be built that were large enough to endure long voyages, the Europeans set out in them, realizing that this was advantageous: “the relative advantage of Europeans was on the seas” (Cippola, 138). Through this, they visited many foreign countries, and were usually the ones doing the conquering. Other people were unprepared for t...

The discovery of the new world brought the Europeans resources, money, and people. Discovery of the new was such an impact on the European exploration because of land. Countries would now have more land in their name with lots of resources. Discovery the new world made the European come up with the ideal of slavery. This was a negative for the people who lived on the land because they were either killed, brought into slavery, or kicked off the island (3). Crops and resources was another reason why the discovery of the new world was important. Exploring the world gave the Europeans resources that were very convenience. Gold was the greatest convenience resources found during the European exploration (3). When the Europeans were traveling across they weren’t just looking for land and money. They also learned from the Indians and others about their culture (3). Learning about another culture made the explorers bring back some of their culture and share it with the old world. The explorers found lots of resources and crops that they didn’t have, they also found out that the Indians didn’t have things they had, and this is what lead to the Columbian

The conquest of exploring the New World was one rooted by the desire for gold and to increase trade within the market. In 1453, the Fall of Constantinople would be the basis on which eastern trading routes would close causing traders and merchants to push westwards. Before colonization, both the Portuguese and Spanish engaged in voyaging further for goods and gold. The Portuguese were the first to venture out further in search of gold and trade. The two most successful of these travelers were Marco Polo and Vasco de Game. Shortly after Marco Polo’s and de Gama, Spain would assist in sending out Christopher Columbus to find a trading rou...