AP European History Expansion Essay December 5, 2000 Fifteenth Century Expansion and Exploration The move by European nations and empires beginning in the fifteenth centuries had many precursors leading up to it. The expansion was mostly the result of a quest for wealth however. New technology and new knowledge of the earth and ways to navigate it were a great assistant to mariners, and thus gave the success for riches a higher probability for success. Those reasons …showed first 75 words of 495 total…

…showed last 75 words of 495 total…ship designs were invented that would be powered by wind rather than by manual labor, which resulted in bigger and sometimes faster ships. New astrological, landmass, and depth charts made it easier for ship captains to navigate. The spice trade, man's quest for power and money, belief in the supremecy of their religion, and technological advances all helped to promote the expansion of European empires in the fifteenth century. Bibliography mckay, history of western society