What was the motivation for the Europeans to explore? Gold God and Glory.

Europeans believed the world was flat until explorers and navigators in the 1400's and1500's started convince the world that it wasn't indeed. This sparked a need for exploration. In Europe the founding of new land became a race for money. Whichever country could own the most colonies and have major exports from them could dominate the world. The three main motivations for exploration were Gold, Glory, and God. Gold would give a country trade …

…Massachusetts Bay Colony. Another reason to travel to the Americas for religion was to spread your religion and create new followers. Exploration was a necessity for Europeans. Europe was crowded and everyone was subject to scrutiny. Most of the people that had emigrated from Europe wanted a new life, and most of the explorers that sailed wanted to be rich and famous. People explored in the 1400's and 1500's mainly because of greed and god.