Voyages of exploration by Europeans - Class 11 PDF Download

The European Age of Exploration began in the early fifteenth century and was fueled by competition between various evolving empires and the quest for economic, intellectual, and religious growth. 

Because European were cut off from travel to the "Far East" by the conquering of large portions of North Africa, the Mediterranean, France, and Spain in the eighth century, explorers set off by sea to find new trade routes that would allow them to trade with Asia in the pursuit of luxury goods. 

This time period also saw the growth of Humanism and curiosity about the rest of the world, as European understanding of geography (and the discovery of the Americas) began to evolve and reveal the true scale of the planet. Explorers who encountered new animals and plant life on their journeys were able to provide detailed descriptions of them, leading to later natural and scientific discoveries and inventions. 

Meanwhile, the Catholic Church encouraged the role of conversion and the spread of Christian beliefs, which led many missionaries to accompany explorers on their travels to various "savage" lands in order to "save" the natives. 

So, we might ultimately say that early European exploration began out of a desire for economic conquest and continued as a means of making intellectual discoveries and spreading religious ideals.