Question

What is a common motivation for people from European countries when exploring the Americans during the 16th century?

Answer 1

Because Europe was not as involved in navigation and exploration than France and Spain, they had to fight for the little land they had. Their main point for exploration was to gain a small amount of power in comparison to other major countries also in South America (Spain) and Canada(France). They were also hoping to find gold, expand the Christian religion (God), and get glory, in the new world. Although there was no gold to be found, once they won the 7 years war and could then overtake the fur trade, fur trade proved to be an excellent source of income for the British crown.