srry im late...................
They were looking for the "Northwest Passage" to the sea. Or basically seeing where America ended in the northwest side of the country.
Hope this helps :)
With decentralization, the power is distributed among many people instead of vested in one emperor. This means that each person will have less power overall. In addition, each individual will then try and gain power of their own over each other, weaking the original emperor's influence even more. Hope this helps!
