Sea Routes Dbq

“I see land! We have arrived.” A crew of explorers had finally reached land after sailing for over 10 months. They were sent on a exploration mission to find a new sea route that would stretch from Europe to Asia. Exploration had recently become a popular thing in the 1400s to 1500s due to the desire to expand trade and find new sea routes. Throughout the previous years, Europeans did not explore much due to the lack of technology but when new tools were created, it made exploration much more accessible. One of the main reasons for exploration was the demand for goods and supplies. In this time, humans could exchange resources between countries and places in one way: trade. Trade is a way to exchange goods of equal value so that each side of the deal gets something they need and gives up something they don’t. Different countries offered different goods to trade depending on what resources they had available. The goods obtained through trade were used in a variety of ways such as cooking, building and decorating. Some examples of the objects that were traded were spices, gold, silver and dyes.

Sea routes were used by sailors to find new trading partners. However during this time, travel by sea, which was mainly in unchartered territory, was very dangerous. In fact, most voyages were quite lengthy and often resulted in fatalities. Since goods were in such high demand, sailors needed the fastest and most efficient way to get to their destination. The most difficult route was to get from Europe to Asia. Previously, people would travel by land between these two countries but it was long and inefficient. The need for shorter trade routes resulted in people investing in finding a way to get to Asia by