What fundamental factors drew the Europeans to the exploration, conquest, and settlement of the New World?

Question

THE NEW WORLD... PLEASE HELP!!

Answer 1

The explorers thought they were going to Asia for the spices and other trade.  They landed in the New World by mistake.  Then, they found gold and silver, and it was all over for the native New Worlders.  Spain and Portugal were only interested in extraction of metals, harvesting of rubber, sugar and other crops, not in helping anyone they oppressed.  

Answer 2

Humanism...To forget the fear of the unknown

Wealth...(self explanatory)

Fame..." "

Answer 3

One of the main missions of European explorations during the end of the Middle Ages was to find the Far East and the silk, gold, spices, etc.. that came from those places. Before Europeans made contact with the China/India/,etc, all these luxurious goods had to be bought from Arabian traders.

Buying from these middlemen was really expensive, and for the most part the Arabs were ripping the Europeans off. Of course, the Europeans could had just walked across Asia and got these Far Eastern goods themselves, but the Turkish Ottoman Empire blocked them from doing so because the Ottoman Turks didn't like Europeans for being Christians (The Ottoman were Muslims).

Driven by wants for these goods and with the land route to Far East blocked by the Ottomans, European monarchs began to charter hopeful explorers to find another way to get to the Far East. Hence, we see hundreds of European ships heading out to the Atlantic Ocean and beyond, trying to look for China, Japan, and India.

During this mad scramble, they find North and South America instead of the Far East. Since the kings and queens back in Europe didn't want their investments go to waste, they decided to colonize these places and load up on whatever natural resources and riches they could find there. The lucky Spanish discover that the native Aztec and Incan people have already mined the gold, silver, and gems that they were looking for, hence began their conquistador-style rampage of pk-ing the native population for loot.

As for the other Europeans, they continue to look for the Far East while settling up their own colonies on these distant lands. By now, Europe was getting pretty crowded, so people decide to leave and move to the new American colonies that the explorers had set up. Of course, the Native Americans weren't too happy about these Europeans crashing on their crib, so both sides began fighting each other for territory.

During all this, the religious nuts back in Europe thought it needing to convert all these natives that their explorers had found. They set out into the wilderness and began preaching the words of God to these people, all for the purpose of getting enough Christians for Jesus' Second Coming party. Hence, the role of religion in motivating European expansion into the New World.          

Answer 4

All of the above + overpopulation.