European discovery,exploration,and conquest of the ""new world"?

Question

what were the political ,economic,intellectual,religious,and technological development which led to European discovery,exploration,and conquest of the ""new world"?

Answer 1

European discovery and conquest of the new world goes as far back as the Vikings if not further (Vikings are the earliest evidence we have).  The Vikings had colonies in Iceland and Greenland but needed sources of timber and metal ore.  They set up a colony on the Labrador coast of Canada and called it Vinland.  After continuous problems with the natives, called skraelings, the colony was either abandoned.  So the drive has always been natural resources.  Successive waves of Europeans "found" the new world over time.  Basque as well as English fisherman would have found the eastern Canadian coast while pursuing cod but as fishing grounds were highly coveted they would not ave been inclined to share the information.  The Spanish efforts are a complex mix of causes which would be a good topic for a paper.  A mix of desire or gold and silver, the religious nature of Isabelle and Ferdinand and their desire to convert the natives, the expulsion of Jews and Muslims from Spain, a generation trained to fight the Moors with no enemy, the desire to expand territorial claims, and the need to circumvent the Portuguese monopoly on the lucrative spice trade all played roles in the Spanish efforts in the new world.

PQ:  Eratosthenes determined the circumference of the Earth (he actually over shot by about 100 miles) at the Equator in the 2nd century B.C.  Sailing around Africa, while dangerous, was extremely lucrative but was controlled by Portugal and King Joao had a bit of tension with Isabelle and Ferdinand of Spain.

Answer 2

Curiosity, or paper that's due Monday?

Books and books have been written on this subject.

Political - in 1494 treaty of Tordesillas Pope divided all "new lands" btw Spain and Portugal, which pissed off everyone else.  Also shaky relations btw Ottoman Empire and Europe meant trade thru Mideast was volatile and unreliable

Economic- silks, spices and other treasures came to Europe from Asia via the "Silk Road" (MANY middlemen thus enormous markup, also pilfering and loss likely).  Even sailing around Africa to Asia was at least a year round trip and extremely dangerous.

Intellectual - people already knew the world was round, but they thought it was a lot smaller, so sailing west to reach the East seemed perfectly reasonable.

Technological - compass, sextant and astrolabe helped navigate far from land day and night; also ocean-going ships had been developed that were stronger, lighter, and more maneuverable than medieval ones.

What led individuals to GO on those voyages?  "God, Gold and Glory" is the old saw, but Gold definitely came first and God's name was taken in vain to justify all sorts of wrongs.  Some of the priests and missionaries surely had their hearts in the right place.  However, reading a document when you get off the boat (in Spanish no less) that says "if they don't submit to God and Spain right now it's gonna be war" ... read more about "the Requirement" here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requirement...