Answer:
What drove some European rulers to send explorers in search of a water route to Asia is to find a shorter route to Asia that can be used for the purpose of trading with Asia.
Explanation:
During the Renaissance period in Europe, people developed the habit of searching for information through several means including that of travelling to other regions of the world. Also, during this period, many European countries were in conflict as they tried to increase their wealth and enlarge their coasts.
Most of the European political heads believed that the major way they can use to increase their wealth is by trading with other countries such as Asia.
The problem that the political heads faced at that time was that most of the land routes they can use to travel to Asia and other countries were controlled by other nations and this made the land routes inaccessible to them.
To solve this problem, most of the political heads provide funds for explorers to seek out water routes that lead to Asia. Thus, these explorers were given the duties of looking for new trade routes and also possibly found new sources for resources such as gold and silver that can increase the wealth of their countries. The explorations led to discovery of several new lands, continents and trade routes.
