Reasons For European Exploration

The Europeans did not really have an interest in sailing the world and exploring foreign lands, but that all changed by the 1400s. What led to the Europeans wanting to explore the world was the desire to grow rich and to spread Christianity, coupled with advances in sailing technology, spurred an age of European exploration. The main motive for exploring the world was the the desire for new sources of wealth. The Europeans figured that overseas trade would bring a lot of wealth their way through trade. Through overseas exploration, merchants and traders hoped ultimately to benefit from what had become a profitable business in Europe: the trade of spices and other luxury goods from Asia. Also, the Europeans had a desire to spread Christianity.
With da Gama’s voyage, Europeans had finally opened direct sea trade with Asia. They also opened an era of violent conflict in the East. European nations scrambled to establish profitable trading outposts along the shores of South and Southeast Asia. And all the while they battled the region’s inhabitants, as well as each other. In the years following da Gama’s voyage, Portugal built a bustling trading empire throughout the Indian Ocean. As the Portuguese moved into the region, they took control of the spice trade from Muslim merchants. In 1510, the Portuguese captured Goa, a port city on India’s west coast. They made it the capital of their trading empire. They then sailed farther east to Indonesia, also known as the East Indies. Portugal did break the old Muslim-Italian domination on trade from the East, much to the delight of European consumers. In time, Portugal’s success in Asia attracted the attention of other European nations. Portugal later got challenged by other nations. Around 1600, Portugal's dominance over the Indian Ocean Trade got challenged by the English and the Dutch. Shortly after, the Netherlands became the leading sea power. The Dutch later went on to create the Dutch East India Company, which was richer and more powerful than England's company. As you can see, the European nations set up trading empires in Eastern
The most important technological advancement for European exploration was cartography. Cartography is the science making of maps. Maps helped the captain and the sailors located where they were going. Without cartography, captains wouldn't be able to locate where they want to go, whether it be going to Asia or Africa. Cartography helped the ships trade, find resources, and obtain wealth. The invention of the printing press helped to make maps quicker. Now that maps could be made quicker, more ships could get maps or multiple copies of maps. Maps also helped to distinguish direction. Maps had a compass on them telling what way was north, south, east and west. As you can see, with cartography ships could now have direction and a way to know where to go when