European Interest In The New World

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European Interest in the New World
The New World sparked an interest to many Europeans because it was a land full of opportunity. Many Europeans, however, were not eager to start exploring and colonizing straight away. It took several years for certain countries to start obtaining the motivation to go out and explore the New World. Eventually, countries became interested in gaining riches and trading and people started to have reasons to travel to the New World, to start a new life and hopefully receive new and better opportunities compared to what they had in Europe. …show more content…

However, by the end of the fifteenth century, the conditions in Europe changed, which inspired an incentive for overseas exploration. Two important changes occurred that encouraged Europeans to look towards new lands. One was the significant growth in Europe’s population during the fifteenth century. More than a third of the people in Europe died because of a catastrophic epidemic of the bubonic plague which was called the Black Death. But one hundred and fifty years later, the population rebounded which brought a reawakening of commerce, a new merchant class rising to meet the demands for goods from abroad, increased trading, and advances in navigation. The second change was the emergence of new governments that were more united and powerful. New monarchs were eager to enhance the commercial development of their nations, especially those in Western …show more content…

One was the Protestant Reformation, which began when Martin Luther challenged the basic practices and beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church. He gained a following and he lead them out of the Catholic Church entirely. John Calvin, a Swiss theologian, also rejected the Catholic belief, especially the fact that human behavior could affect an individual’s prospects for salvation. He introduced the doctrine of predestination, which was the belief the God predetermined certain people to be saved and condemned others to damnation. But if one accepted Calvin's teachings, they might be able to reveal what their chance of salvation is, depending on how they led their lives. His followers were called Calvinists. Another reason was because different monarchs would go back and forth between religions. King Henry VIII of England, broke England’s ties with the Catholic Church and established himself as the head of the Christian faith, and this came to be known as the English Reformation. But once Henry died, his Catholic daughter, Queen Mary, restored England’s allegiance to

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