The Reasons for Exploration

The reason for exploration was born out of simple human desire to pay less for goods and eventually evolved into other rationalizations all of which shared a common objective: the procurement of wealth and opportunity. The Renaissance had a profound effect on exploration and gave Europeans that little extra confidence they needed to embark on voyages into a dangerous ocean. The Reformation also had an effect on exploration and in its beginning was affected to some degree by exploration as well. The Spanish settlement of the New World and their subsequent exploitation of the natives were justified in the minds of Spaniards through the dogmatic belief in their superiority and captured in the well-known aphorism “Gold, Glory, and Gospel.”

The primary reason why Europeans ventured out into the unknown was to find a trade route by sea and establish direct trade with Asia, India, China, and Africa (Roark). Essentially cutting out the middlemen, the Italian bankers and merchants, who dominated the trade in goods carried overland since the twelfth century. The items they sought (satins, silks, spices, and exotic fruits) were expensive and cost much more than the hides, furs, tin, lead, wool, and leather products they had to offer (Reilly). This created a trade imbalance, combined with the fact that much of  their wealth to buy these goods were filling the pockets of middle easterners, did not sit well with them, “Muslims, heathens, and non-Christians were benefiting from this trade, and it bothered them” (Reilly). Europeans were fed up with making the heathens in the east rich and decided to find a route by sea to the Indies.

The Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black Plague, was the catalyst for another potential reason for exploration. This deadly disease killed many Europeans, causing the surviving two-thirds much misery and hardship. Exploration provided some with an opportunity to escape the death and despair that haunted their recent past and gave them a chance at a better future. In some ways the bubonic plague encouraged some to take risks and so they set out on these voyages and to improve their lot and secure a place within society (Roark).  Their courage was fueled by technological advances and increased navigational knowledge sparked by the revival of classical culture.

The cultural and religious spirit that flourished between the 14^th to 16^th centuries, known as the Renaissance, brought the Middle Ages to an end (”Renaissance”).  This “classical revival” marked the beginning of modern sciences and the expansion of geographic knowledge (”Renaissance”).  This new found understanding catalyzed exploration and inspired Europeans to chase after their dreams. It convinced many to embark on voyages to find alternative routes to the Indies in an attempt to stake out a better future, discover new opportunities, and to procure wealth and security. The Portuguese were the first to make the trip out into the unknown, and would accumulate the knowledge that Christopher Columbus would later use to discover the New World.

The effect in which the Protestant Reformation and had on exploration began on October 31, 1517 when Martin Luther, a Catholic priest, published his Ninety-five Theses. Luther introduced two theological ideas that not only outraged the Catholic Church but caused the foundation of Catholicism to crack (Robinson). These two ideas became the reformist battle cry. The first became to be known as sola fide: the belief in justification by faith alone (”Martin Luther”). The second was sola scriptura: the belief that the church should be based on scripture alone (”Martin Luther”).   Luther openly challenged the pope’s authority, condemning the sale of indulgences; and preached that participation in church rituals would not put anyone closer to salvation (”Luther, Martin”).  Charles V, the King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, committed a portion of his new found wealth from the exploration of the New Spain towards the annihilation of Luther’s Protestant heretical doctrine (Roark 47).

However, Lutheran beliefs spread to England by the 1520s and took root in 1534 when King Henry VIII asserted his dominance over the Church of England, essentially breaking away from Catholic ideals. The Reformation strengthened further when Henry VIII’s daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, sought to end religious disputes in England, “Her Act of Supremacy of 1559 established her status as ‘Supreme Governor’ of the church and mandated the use of the Book of Common Prayer” (Robinson). This led to the Puritanism movement, the aim of which aim was to reform the church and find a common ground between Roman Catholicism and the ideas of the Protestant reformers” (”Puritanism”).  However, the Puritanism movement in England was unsuccessful. In 1620 Puritans separatist immigrated to North America and founded the Plymouth Colony and with desire to separate church and state, cut all ties with the Church of England.

After Christopher Columbus discovered the Bahamian islands, in search of a sea route to Asia, the reasons for exploration began its transformation into a cataclysmic exploitation of the natives (”Voyages of Christopher Columbus”). “Gold, glory and gospel” was their battle cry and their justification for the conquest of the people of the “new world”. In their drive to gather riches, the Spaniards enslaved and decimated the natives in an attempt to quench their insatiable lust for gold (Mancall).  After the Spanish crown got its twenty-percent cut of the swag, known as the “Royal Fifth”, and men like Cortes and his officers took their loot, there was very little left over for rest of the Spanish conquerors.

In order to compensate the conquistadores for their efforts and to encourage settlement the Spanish government established the encomienda systems in New Spain (Frank). Under encomienda conquistadores and later Spanish commoners were given land, by the King, and entrusted with a certain number of Natives to provide labor (Frank).  In return for protection, Christianization, and assimilation into the Spanish way of life, the Indians would provide labor, work the land, and pay tribute to the encomendero the holder of the encomienda (Foster). However, the encomendero was more concerned with what they could get out of the deal and typically exploited and abused the Natives. Overtime the encomienda, and subsequent repartimiento, another system of forced labor, dramatically decimated the Indian population, and for the first time in New Spain’s history Indian laborers were in short supply. Spanish greed and inhumanity, as history shows, eventually caught up with them. Their plan for settlement was workable, if their intentions were to annihilate the natives, corrupt a culture, rape the lands, and transform it into a Christian European society.

Exploration was born from European desires to pay less for the goods they wanted. The reasons then morphed into a way for some to escape the aftermath of the Black plague. In its finality, the reasons for exploration transformed into an insatiable lust for wealth and power, which obliterated a people, replaced their religion, and stole their wealth. Europeans were encouraged to seek out a westward passage as a result of the expansion of geographic knowledge produced by the Renaissance. Reformation did not only effect exploration but was affected by it throughout the colonization and settlement of the Western Hemisphere. This can be surmised from the facts that Charles V used wealth from New Spain in failed attempts to squash Lutheranism; and from the fact that Protestant Reformation ideas spread to England by the 1520s, eventually leading to the Protestant colonization of North America. In the short run, the Spaniards plan worked, but as history tells us, it did not last.

 Works Cited

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