Sail The Seas Dbq

Why Did Europeans Sail the Seas?

Europeans explored the seas to acquire resources, riches, and land. It is a common pattern that explorers throughout history share. Through acquiring these things, almost all European explorers benefitted their country or government.
The most prominent reason that the Europeans traveled was to find resources. In the times that they explored, trade was a valuable income of goods for most countries, but countries wanted more direct ways of obtaining such materials. “The starting point for the European expansion… had a great deal to do with pepper”(Doc 4). Pepper was a very valuable import, and as such when the Turks began to block trade routes for it around 1470, other Europeans sailed in order to find the source of the spice. In addition, at the end of Columbus’ letter he summarized with “I will procure… a quantity of spices, of cotton, and of mastic… I promise also rhubarb and other sorts of

It is important for most countries to expand their reaches and therefore increase the amount of power they have. In Columbus’ letter he explained the details of the land he claimed for his country. “...I discovered many islands… of which I took possession... in the name of our [King]”(Doc 1). After stating this, he continued to describe what he named the islands and what they were like. It is apparent that acquiring land was an important task for explorers to complete, as otherwise Columbus most likely would have continued his exploration after discovering these islands without taking control of them. Gaining property was imperative for Europeans to do as they sailed the seas.
Goods, money, and property are all things that people in these times when they explored. By obtaining these things, these explorers that traveled to new lands were able to help their country or government, as well as themselves. It is clear that this is what Europeans wanted when they sailed the