In the time of the age of exploration, many European countries helped contribute to the great discoveries made. The ones who contributed the most were Spain and Portugal, but also England, France, the Netherlands, and Italy. These countries sent out ships for many reasons. One was that they wanted to find sea routes to Asia. Many cultural and scientific advancements took place there. Another reason was that they wanted to know more about the world, they also wanted fame, glory, and bragging rights. The last reason is that they wanted to spread Christianity all around the world.
New discoveries greatly impacted European nations at that time. All of the countries wanted to discover things before other countries. That created rivalry and jealousy. For example, Spain and England go into a war over already claimed land and stealing from ports. Exploration also brought back goods and precious things. A more money based economy was formed and merchants could raise the price on certain items due to the rarity of it at that time. if i was living at that time I would love to buy the new items brought back from explores and take advantage of the strong money based economy.
i think that the most important explorers were Hernan Cortes, Christopher Columbus, and Ferdinand Magellan. Cortes explored Mexico and learned about the Aztecs, which is very important. Columbus discovered America which is obviously a very important discovery. Magellan discovered that Earth was round and was first to sail all the way around the Earth which was very important because it changes the whole idea of what people thought before.
