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Search for New Sources of Wealth
Starting around the 1200s, Europeans began to search for new sources of wealth. Many male Europeans had been to one or more of the Crusades, a series of holy wars fought with Muslims over control of the Holy Land in what is now the country of Israel. While “on Crusade,” these fighters were exposed to new trade goods—such as spices, medicines, silk, jewels, perfumes, rugs, and other luxury goods from India and China that they had never seen in Europe. Naturally, when the Crusaders returned to Europe, they showed all of their new possessions to the other Europeans, who then wanted more of the exotic goods. Among others, the Muslim Ottoman Turks controlled the Mediterranean at that time, and overland routes were long and dangerous. Explorers began to seek other routes to increase their profits by getting to India and China more easily.
Another factor that motivated European exploration was the dominant economic philosophy of mercantilism. This philosophy emphasized the idea that restrictive trade practices (like minimizing imports and maximizing exports) would allow a country to accumulate material wealth (gold and silver). As wealth was considered finite (limited), it was necessary to compete with other countries, taking their wealth to enhance one’s own country’s wealth. This supported the acquisition of colonies, which were supposed to serve as sources of wealth for the home country.
Economic and Military Competition
Some nations, such as Spain, Portugal, and later France and England, came to be ruled by powerful monarchs, and, due to mercantilism, they wanted to strengthen their own countries’ economies by exporting goods to other nations. Monarchs became even more powerful because medieval nobles had been weakened by fighting in the Crusades. This allowed monarchs to take over nobles’ traditional rights and privileges. These new, stronger monarchs then competed to gain the newest military technology so that they could win wars and control trade. Naturally, war or some physical show of force was needed to compete, so these newly-unified nations also raced to gain access to the newest military technology.
Desire to Spread Christianity
The Protestant Reformation was a time period during which Europeans began to question the Catholic Church and establish new denominations. This weakened the Catholic Church, which responded by trying to reassert its power with a series of actions called the Counter-Reformation.
Both Catholic and Protestant nations in Europe competed to see which could spread their version of Christianity to more new areas. Protestant countries, like England and the Netherlands, prevailed in what would eventually become the 13 colonies; Spain and Portugal, which were Catholic countries, focused their efforts on modern-day Florida, Mexico, and Latin America. Another Catholic nation, France, expanded into Canada.
