Prompt 1

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