The 1400s marked a time of exploration and expansion for Europe. Identify and explain three developments that stimulated this age of exploration. Your response should be at least 200 words in length. You are required to use at least your textbook as source material for your response. All sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations.
Europe was a society based upon agriculture. “Farming and raising livestock had been practiced in Europe for thousands of years”, but during the late Middle Ages there were technological advances (Faragher, Buhle, Czitrom, & Armitage, 2009). The 1400s marked a time of exploration and expansion for Europe. The three developments that stimulated the age of exploration for Europe was the Merchant, the Renaissance, and the Portuguese Voyages.
The Merchant was a factor that made Europeans want to explore. One reason why Europeans wanted to go exploring was economic. “The economic growth of the late Middle Ages was accompanied by the expansion of commerce” (Faragher, Buhle, Czitrom, & Armitage, 2009, p. 27). Commercial expansion stimulates the growth of markets and many European towns. Europeans had been in contact with Asia from the time of the Mongol conquests until the 14th century (Faragher, Buhle, Czitrom, & Armitage, 2009). They had heard about the East through things like accounts of Marco Polo’s journeys. They had become very aware of the silks and spices and other things that came from Asia, but then the Mongols were defeated by the Ming Chinese and the Ottoman Turks conquered the Byzantine Empire, which in turn cut Europe off from Asian trade. Therefore, people like the Portuguese had a motive to start exploring for ways to get to Asia by sea. “During the late Middle Ages, the cities of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa launched armed