I think that European reasons for motivation in the New World were for Gold in the sixteenth century. For centuries goods coming from the Far East had to pass through middle men in cities such as Constantinople or Venice. At each stop the merchants had to pay taxes on the goods and the prices went up. There was a high demand in Europe for these goods and the people wanted them for a lower price. Spain and Portugual were the first to send out ships to find ocean trade routes to the East Indies. Colombus went across the Atlantic to find those trade routes and stumbled across a new continent that he wasn't looking for. the Europeans wanted new trade routes for the delivery of Eastern goods and had no idea that they would end up finding new continents.
Sarah
9 comments:
But how did they know it was there?
I think that this was their motivation later on,but at first, I think that their motivation was "glory" because European motive was to be great and in finding the gold, Europe became more great, increasing the glory.
way to prove my point. haha
Eh...that's what I'm thinking.
I agree with Erica. Because, for example, it was later on that the East India Trading Company came into the New World demanding gold.
I agree with Sarah though. I think their motivation from the beginning was gold/fortune. First of all, Columbus landed on America looking for another route for India with which Spain wanted to trade directly.
witch they wanted for glory also. cuz whoever gets to india the fastest is the coolest. haha
I think Spain ans Portugal wanted the Gold. They wanted to find these new routes to line their pockets. Later on they may have been keeping it up for glory by sending out missionaries (Jesuits) and such, but their first intentions were definitely for gold.
Post a Comment