Answer:
The correct answer is A. Spain, Portugal and other European countries were in competition to find a sea route to the Indies.
Explanation:
With the fall of the Byzantine Empire at the hands of the Ottomans and the establishment of an iron and effective control of the Middle East trade routes by the Muslims, the European nations lost access to the main markets of the East in which they obtained different goods of high commercial value, such as spices or fabrics.
Due to this situation, the main European powers, especially Spain, Portugal and Great Britain, began to look for alternative routes to access India and China without having to go through the Middle East. Thus, the Portuguese began to create routes bordering the African continent, establishing coastal colonies in Africa and the coasts of the Indian Ocean. Meanwhile, Spain began to finance explorations in the opposite direction, with the conviction that the theory that the Earth was round was indeed correct.
Finally, Spain discovered America through these explorations, while Portugal established colonies in India and China, such as Goa and Macao.
