The age of exploration was a time when many countries including Spain, Portugal, France and England sent out ships in search of new lands and and riches. Some of these voyages such as the one that Christopher Columbus undertook were to find the a water route to the west Indies because the land routes had been closed. These land routes had been closed because of hostilities with the moors that controlled central Asia, they were later re-opened. Many went in search of riches from places that were either unknown or were known. The americas became a place that many voyages set out to reach because of the deposits of precious metals and useful things on those distant shores. Another motivation for these voyages was to spread the Christian beliefs and way of life, to convert the so called heathens of other countries and lands. These peoples were often abused and mistreated as we mistreated our own Indians in this country an example of a group of people that were oppressed during this time were the mexican people or Indios. They were forced to work in the mines and often times mistreated or killed.
Some of the events that led to the beginning of the age of exploration and expansion were
The system of colonization led to the industrial revolution in the 19th century because of attempts to regulate the trade of the colonies and the invention of new methods of processing and making goods that were being made from the raw materials coming from the colonies. The colonies played a part in this because without the flow of raw materials the machines that produced textiles and other manufactured goods that were invented during the industrial revolution would not have been needed. So without colonialism there may not have been an industrial revolution.
the protestant reformation and the catholic churches counter - reformation between the years 1000 and 1650. This led to less political strife among the church and helped welcome in the renaissance. During this time period the renaissance took place bringing with it new interests in art and new new ideas about life. It showed that a single human can change his and others lives leading to more desire to go exploring. Political alliances began to change as well. The small feudal kingdoms or fiefdoms began to disappear and be unified under one strong central government ruled by a monarch. The incessant fighting that went along with fiefdoms disappeared. The crusades were over as well so there was not as much fighting both on a large and small scale. This allowed powerful wealthy countries such as Spain and Portugal to begin spending money on other things than just surviving, they also had more money being a large unified nation. Men were also available to go exploring as they were not all out fighting and dyeing. The emergence of better navigational technologies and methods made long distance journeys possible where as before there had been no way to tell where an individual was or where he
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