Competing States
Rulers of European states were driven by rivalries within Europe. Since the fall of Rome, Europe was decentralized. States competed to conquer more land causing more wars. That resulted in an arms race. European armies continually competed to improve gun powder weapon technology. European states feared that failure in the battlefield would mean loss of power and land. Thus, European monarchs sought to expand regionally and globally.
Bypassing Muslim Middlemen
In 1453, the Ottomans, a Muslim tribe from Central Asia, conquered Constantinople, bringing an end to the Byzantine Empire. The Ottomans established Constantinople as their capital city and converted its famed church (the Hagia Sophia) into a mosque (see image below). This act caused shockwaves throughout Europe. The Byzantine Empire had always been the symbol of Christian dominance in Eastern Europe. It had now been conquered by Muslims.
As Ottoman forces expanded into Eastern Europe, one could argue that they pushed Western Europe into the Atlantic. Western European merchants did not want to purchase Afro-Eurasian goods from Muslim merchants. So, they sought access to the Indian Ocean world by venturing into the Atlantic Ocean and rounding the Cape of Good Hope in Southern Africa. |
Indian Ocean Goods: Spices, Silk and Gold
The Crusades and the Mongols had given Western Europeans a taste of Afro-Eurasian luxuries (spices from Southeast Asia, cotton from India, silk and porcelain from China, gold from Africa, etc.) Basically, Europeans desired all of the goods that they missed out on during the Pre-Modern Period. As a result, Western European explorers, adventurers and corporations alike scrambled to reach the Indian Ocean in order to make a profit.
Missionary Efforts
Along with the economic motives, the goal of expanding the boundaries of Christianity also drove Europeans into the larger world. Like Buddhism and Islam, Christianity is a missionary religion. The New Testament urged Christians to spread their faith throughout the world. Whether through persuasion or violence, overseas voyages offered fresh opportunities for Western Europeans to diffuse their faith by seeking locals that will convert.
Additionally, the Protestant Reformation caused another schism within European Christianity. Martin Luther, a Catholic monk, posted his Ninety-Five Thesis, a list of the crimes committed by the Catholic Church. This divided European Christianity into
two: Catholics and Protestants. This schism increased warfare between Catholic-dominated states and Protestant-dominated European states in Europe. As a result, Europeans tried to spread their form of Christianity and find new converts in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. Accompanied by their desire to stop the spread of Islam, the missionary enthusiasm of Europeans drove them to conquer more land in order to spread their version of Christianity.
Additionally, the Protestant Reformation caused another schism within European Christianity. Martin Luther, a Catholic monk, posted his Ninety-Five Thesis, a list of the crimes committed by the Catholic Church. This divided European Christianity into
two: Catholics and Protestants. This schism increased warfare between Catholic-dominated states and Protestant-dominated European states in Europe. As a result, Europeans tried to spread their form of Christianity and find new converts in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. Accompanied by their desire to stop the spread of Islam, the missionary enthusiasm of Europeans drove them to conquer more land in order to spread their version of Christianity.