PLZ HURRY FOR 25 PT
Based on the description below, why did these explorers go on long and dangerous journeys?
a to find new species of plants and animals

b to keep the peace in Europe

c to protect the people in faraway lands

d to colonize and bring new products home

Columbus then returned to Spain. He kidnapped between 10 and 25 indigenous people and took them back with him. However, only seven or eight of them survived the sea voyage. The people in Spain were very curious to see these “natives.”

One of the first things Columbus did when he got back to Spain was to write a letter to the king and queen. He wrote . . .

On the island there are very lofty and beautiful mountains, great farms, groves and fields… The inhabitants do not have any sort of iron and have no weapons. They are timid and full of terror. When they see that they are safe, and all fear is banished, they are very honest.

Columbus was disappointed that the islanders did not have much of value to trade with. But they did have something that the Spanish wanted: land. The focus would change from trading to colonizing. The Spanish would take over control of these new lands. Spain and Portugal were now the two big European trading powers. To avoid them fighting over new territory, the Roman Catholic Pope Alexander VI arranged for a treaty to be signed between the two countries. It was called the Treaty of Tordesillas.

This 1494 agreement divided the world into parts. Most of North and South America would be under Spanish control. Africa and Asia would go to Portugal. But there was one exception to this rule. When the treaty was signed, the coast of Brazil had not yet been discovered. The part of South America that extended past the dividing line was discovered by the Portuguese in 1500. This area later became Brazil. That is how Brazil became the only country in South America where Portuguese is spoken. The Age of Exploration took off around the turn of the 16th century. During that period, there were four outstanding explorers who helped to open up world trade through their voyages:

Vasco De Gama of Portugal: De Gama was the man who finally achieved the goal set by Prince Henry the Navigator, becoming the first European to reach India by sea. His first voyage, between 1497-1499, linked Europe and Asia by an ocean route for the first time. It was a major point of connection between the East and the West. It allowed the Portuguese to develop a long-lasting colonial empire in Asia.

Ferdinand Magellan of Spain: Although Portuguese, Magellan was commissioned by the king of Spain to search for a westward route to the “Spice Islands” of Maluku. He passed through the Straits of Magellan into the “Peaceful Sea” or Pacific Ocean. The expedition reached the Spice Islands in 1521. The return journey through the Indian Ocean made this the first voyage around the entire earth. However, Magellan never made it. He was killed during the Battle of Mactan in the Philippines in 1521. Cortes was a Spanish conquistador, or conqueror. In 1518, he led an expedition to Mexico that led to the collapseof the Aztec Empire. His forces destroyed the ancient city of Tenochtitlan, along with much of Aztec culture. This allowed the Spanish to colonize large parts of South America. Francisco Pizarro led expeditions to Peru. His conquest of the Incan Empire allowed the Spanish to colonize the region by 1572.