What was the reason for Europe to search for a route to the east?

Why did European exploration begin to flourish in the 1400s? Two main reasons stand out. First, Europeans of this time had several motives for exploring the world. Second, advances in knowledge and technology helped to make the Age of Exploration possible.

Motives for Exploration For early explorers, one of the main motives for exploration was the desire to find new trade routes to Asia. By the 1400s, merchants and Crusaders had brought many goods to Europe from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Demand for these goods increased the desire for trade.

Europeans were especially interested in spices from Asia. They had learned to use spices to help preserve food during winter and to cover up the taste of food that was no longer fresh.

Trade with the East, however, was difficult and very expensive. Muslims and Italians controlled the flow of goods. Muslim traders carried goods to the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Italian merchants then brought the goods into Europe. Problems arose when Muslim rulers sometimes closed the trade routes from Asia to Europe. Also, the goods went through many hands, and each trading party raised the price.

European monarchs and merchants wanted to break the hold that Muslims and Italians had on trade. One way to do so was to find a sea route to Asia. Portuguese sailors looked for a route that went around Africa. Christopher Columbus tried to reach Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic.

Other motives also came into play. Many people were excited by the opportunity for new knowledge. Explorers saw the chance to earn fame and glory, as well as wealth. As new lands were discovered, nations wanted to claim the lands’ riches for themselves.

A final motive for exploration was the desire to spread Christianity beyond Europe. Both Protestant and Catholic nations were eager to make new converts. Missionaries of both faiths followed the paths blazed by explorers.

Advances in Knowledge and Technology The Age of Exploration began during the Renaissance. The Renaissance was a time of new learning. A number of advances during that time made it easier for explorers to venture into the unknown.

One key advance was in cartography, the art and science of mapmaking. In the early 1400s, an Italian scholar translated an ancient book called Guide to Geography from Greek into Latin. The book was written by the thinker Ptolemy (TOL-eh-mee) in the 2nd century C.E. Printed copies of the book inspired new interest in cartography. European mapmakers used Ptolemy’s work as a basis for drawing more accurate maps.

Discoveries by explorers gave mapmakers new information with which to work. The result was a dramatic change in Europeans’ view of the world. By the 1500s, Europeans made globes, showing Earth as a sphere. In 1507, a German cartographer made the first map that clearly showed North and South America as separate from Asia.

In turn, better maps made navigation easier. The most important Renaissance geographer, Gerardus Mercator (mer-KAY-tur), created maps using improved lines of longitude and latitude. Mercator’s mapmaking technique was a great help to navigators.

An improved ship design also helped explorers. By the 1400s, Portuguese and Spanish shipbuilders were making a new type of ship called a caravel. These ships were small, fast, and easy to maneuver. Their special bottoms made it easier for explorers to travel along coastlines where the water was not deep. Caravels also used lateen sails, a triangular style adapted from Muslim ships. These sails could be positioned to take advantage of the wind no matter which way it blew.

Along with better ships, new navigational tools helped sailors travel more safely on the open seas. By the end of the 1400s, the compass was much improved. Sailors used compasses to find their bearing, or direction of travel. The astrolabe helped sailors determine their distance north or south from the equator.

Finally, improved weapons gave Europeans a huge advantage over the people they met in their explorations. Sailors could fire their cannons at targets near the shore without leaving their ships. On land, the weapons of native peoples often were no match for European guns, armor, and horses.

The Age of Exploration, or Age of Discovery, is one of the most important events in the history of the western world.  It began in the early 15th century and continued until the end of the 17th century, and involved European explorers using their navigational skills to travel the world.  In general, the Age of Exploration occurred for several different reasons, particularly in the countries of Portugal, Spain, France and England.

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain

Europe in the Age of Exploration

​First, European countries were seeking new trade routes to distant trading partners in the Far East, including: China, India and Japan.  European countries had traditionally traded with these countries through the Silk Road.  The Silk Road was mostly over land and took merchants a great deal of time to ship goods.  European countries were interested in speeding up trade by finding a quicker sea route.

A second reason for the beginning of the Age of Exploration was the rise of absolute monarchies in Europe.  The powerful monarchs of Europe had centralized the authority and wealth of each country and used their vast wealth to fund the expeditions of many explorers.  For example, Christopher Columbus was funded by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain.

Third, Europeans had made some dramatic improvements in their navigational skill and technology that allowed early explorers to travel further and more accurately at sea.  For example, ship building had drastically improved in the years immediately before the Age of Exploration began.  New ships, such as the carrack and the caravel, allowed explorers to hold more cargo and the venture further than ever before.

The final reason for why the Age of Exploration began is because Europeans of the time were interested in foreign cultures and goods.  In general, the Renaissance in Europe caused an expansion of new ideas and new understandings of the world.  Europeans were interested in learning about these new ideas and expanding on their worldviews.

The Age of Exploration is considered to have occurred mostly with four European nations, which included: Portugal, Spain, France and England.  Each of these countries experienced the same forces that pushed them to explore the world, but they also shared one important characteristic.  They were all countries that bordered on the Atlantic Ocean and had easy access to the sea with many sea ports and experienced sailors.  This allowed these four nations to have the ability to begin exploring while other European nations did not.

Portugal is considered to have started the Age of Exploration ahead of the other main three nations with the expeditions that were carried out under Prince Henry the Navigator.  Although he never directly carried out any trips of his own, Henry was vital in Portugal’s earliest trips and for revolutionizing the way that these trips were recorded.  He set up a school of navigation in 1419 and under his direction sailors perfected sailing techniques, navigational tools, designs for sails and different mapping techniques.  For example, he is credited with being the first to require captains of ships to keep a record or log of their journeys.  This was important because it allowed different explorers to combine their findings to build up a common knowledge base of discoveries.

Henry the Navigator

Early Portuguese explorers travelled south along the western coast of Africa in search of a new route to India and China in the early 1400s.  These early explorers were so successful that Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, became the main trade center of Europe at the time.

Christopher Columbus

Portugal’s neighbor, Spain, was jealous of Portugal’s expeditions and the resulting wealth and wanted to begin its own explorations.  Instead of heading south, like Portuguese sailors, Spanish explorers headed west across the Atlantic Ocean.  These early explorers were seeking a quicker trade route to the Far East, including China and India.  The most famous example of early Spanish explorers is Christopher Columbus.  Columbus, while being of Italian nationality, sailed for Spain after being funded by the king and queen of Spain.  He is credited with being the first European to explore the New World in 1492 (besides the Vikings 500 years earlier) and with beginning the wave of European settlement into the Americas.

Despite financing the voyage of John Cabot to Newfoundland in 1497, England did not show major interest in exploration until the late 1500s.  By this time, both Spain and Portugal had become incredibly wealthy from their own expeditions and England wanted to gain land and wealth for itself.  Many of the earliest English explorers voyaged to the New World and established colonies that England controlled as part of its vast empire.  Most of these colonies were established along the eastern seaboard of modern-day Canada and the United States.

Similar to England, France was inspired to begin exploring in the 1500s during the Age of Exploration after seeing the wealth of both Spain and Portugal increase.  Most of France’s expeditions focused on the areas of the St. Lawrence River in Canada.  For example, Jacques Cartier famously explored the region for France and established an early colony for the French empire.

The Age of Exploration ended in the early 17th century after technological advancements and increased knowledge of the world allowed Europeans to travel easily across the globe by sea.  In addition, the creation of settlements along the coasts of the newly found areas created a network of communication and trade, therefore ending the need to search for trade routes.