There are numerous reasons. For starters, the routes were unknown and people didn't even think it was possible to circle the globe as various water routes had not yet been discovered. Another issue was technology. The ships were not as strong enough to survive such long journeys. Another was resources, as people did not have resources to travel so far. It was only during the age of exploration that kings and princes started giving money for such endeavors.
Economic freedom is basically like the people in the economy and the political freedom is the government. The political freedom affects the economic freedom because there is no economics without politics.
