In the early fifteenth century the sea-faring countries of Europe were poised to expand their influence in the rest of the world through a program of sustained and systematic exploration. In some cases the motive for exploration was profit, in others, exploration was fanned by the quest for knowledge about the world in which Europeans lived. Still others justified their actions as the logical extension of the Crusades of Christianity against Islam.

The Crusades

Although Europe was, by and large, a self-sustaining continent, Europeans had acquired a taste for luxury items that had long been traded from the East (Persia, India, China, etc.) and whose demand far exceeded the supply since 1250. The lure of profits from the cotton, silk, precious stones, exotic spices, and slaves that were traded prompted Europeans to find a better way to directly access these items. European and Eastern traders had established overland routes through central Asia that served as direct links for these exotic goods, but even regional overland trade was risky and costly.

By the thirteenth century Europeans had developed a sophisticated maritime commerce that included the navigation of the Mediterranean Sea, the North and Baltic Seas, and the passable stretch of Western Europe's coast between them. This brought greater seafaring experience and greater knowledge of navigation technologies. The long Mediterranean galleys renown for their manoeuvrability were combined with the sturdy round ships of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. This resulted in a new category of ship that could withstand a variety of maritime conditions and could still carry large cargoes. These new ships were instrumental to the Europeans adventurers who sought out a cheaper and more practical waterborne trade with the East.

For centuries, the East was a potent image for Europeans. The legacy of the Roman and Ancient Greek civilisations that had regular trading and diplomatic contact with India and China (the Han Dynasty) inspired the Europeans of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries to attempt to establish their own eastern empires. Alexander the Great's empire, for example, consisted of territories in both Greece and India, thus greatly facilitating contact between western and eastern Eurasia. Links between the Europeans and the Asians were disrupted by barbarian conquests in China, India, and Europe in the fourth and fifth centuries C.E. (Common Era). In the eighth century Islam engulfed North Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean, Spain, and France, igniting hostilities between the Christian and Muslim kingdoms that led to the cutoff of trade routes to the East. For centuries Europe's only knowledge of the East was limited and often second-hand. Merchants like Marco Polo, gleaned valuable information about the East while looking for new trade routes. Europeans were so inspired by travelling accounts like Marco Polo's, that they were determined to re-establish routes of their own to the riches of the East. To do this the European worldview began to conceptualise a "New World" beyond known territory and the East came to symbolise this.

The "New World" and its "heathen" population challenged and inspired the Roman Catholic Church to fulfil its self-proclaimed destiny of being the one universal faith of humanity. As God's representative on Earth the Pope provided the moral authority that legitimised European exploration and subsequent exploitation of new territory. For example, in 1452, Pope Nicholas V issued a papal bull allowing the enslavement of "pagans and infidels" justifying all European slaving expeditions to Africa. In order to spread Christ's message to "heathen" masses while protecting the Church's sovereignty over the new territories, the Church sent missionaries to accompany many of the voyages of overseas expansion. The Church eventually granted kingdoms like Portugal and Spain political sovereignty over these territories, clearly establishing the Church's ultimate authority in European society.

Initially, exploration took the form of small-scale ventures that were financed by independent businessmen. Some were members of the nobility like Prince Henry, and others were members of the merchant class. These early ventures took the form of raid and trade excursions. Ships were sent along the coast of Africa to find inhabited areas where Europeans could trade or raid goods and slaves. These early independent excursions by merchants and adventurers proved that exploration was profitable and eventually European monarchs began to take a greater interest. Thus exploration evolved from cautious, small-scale operations to a systematic approach that incorporated royal patronage, substantial capital and long-range planning. The Iberian kingdoms of Portugal and Spain were early pioneers that sponsored numerous voyages of exploration. The Portuguese focused primarily on a trading empire while the Spanish sought a territorial empire they could colonise.

The contemporary written accounts of exploration in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries often use words like "luck" and "accidents." Nevertheless, the persistence and determination of certain individuals, like Prince Henry the Navigator, sustained and nurtured exploration during its infancy. This persistence was echoed by explorers like Gil Eanes, Christopher Columbus, and Bartolomeu Dias, who overcame the tremendous physical and mental barriers of ocean exploration. Even when basic fears about the existence of sea-monsters or sailing over the edge of a flat earth were conquered, there was a myriad of other misfortunes that could befall European explorers at sea or onshore in a distant land with hostile inhabitants. Navigation techniques were rudimentary and maps were sometimes a strange mixture of fact and wishful thinking. Supplies could spoil or run out entirely. Crews could rebel against sailing to distant and uncharted parts of the globe and mutiny against their captains. Above all, the seas themselves were unpredictable and dangerous.

Although this tutorial deals exclusively with the Iberian kingdoms of Spain and Portugal in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, it is important to remember that many countries were involved in exploring the "New World." Many of the pioneers of exploration gathered the necessary human and technological resources from wherever they were available. Thus the individual actors in this drama of discovery were English, French, Italian, Polish, Arabian, as well as Iberian. Other countries like England and France also played active roles in the exploration of the "New World." Rivalries between these powers sustained and advanced exploration as each sought to outstrip the other in terms of raw goods and riches provided by their overseas empires. Every single European institution, from the Church to the average citizen, felt the effects of the voyages of exploration. This tutorial will explain some of the issues surrounding the early years of European exploration.

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