Routes to the East The Turkish conquests and the fall of Constantinople provided stimulus to the European maritime nations to find a sea route to the East so that they did not have to depend on the old land routes controlled by the Ottomans. These efforts eventually resulted in the great geographical discoveries which revealed to Europeans the existence of a New World on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Multiple factors lead to exploration of sea (a) During the Crusades, the knights (warriors) returned with many types of goods from the East. The Europeans liked the eastern products, mainly the spices, which were used as food preservatives in the West.
Till that time Arabs controlled the land-bound and maritime trade with the Asian countries including India and further east. They exchanged the goods from various Galileo Galilei Modern World: The Age of Reason parts of Asia with the Italians, who then traded on them in Europe. The European powers, particularly Portugal and Spain, wanted to have direct trade with the Asian countries. They therefore encouraged the exploration of new routes, so that they could profit more.
This was the decisive economic factor that provided the urge to discover new trade routes. (b) As the demands for the products from the East increased, the European states wanted to earn more profits and control sea-borne trade. Hence they were interested in investing in the sea exploration. (c) The spirit of the age that ‘let fools contest elections and the adventurous go and explore’ prompted many to opt for the latter course that promised both money and fame.
(d) The eagerness to spread religion (Christianity) also acted as an impetus to the exploration of new lands, though this was not a primary factor in the initial period. During the time of the Counter Reformation spreading the word of god gained prominence. (e) Due to Renaissance there was development of technology in many fields. One such field was cartography (map-making).
Ptolemy’s map of the first century CE was redrawn using new