1. Why Explorers Explored1.
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Why Explorers Explored 2. 3. 4.

2. Why explorers explored

3. Why did Europeans explore the world?

4. Some European countries paid for explorations for different reasons
Some European countries paid for explorations for different reasons. Here are just 5 of the reasons why those countries explored:

5. (1) To find a sea route to the spices of Asia

6. Sea Route in Search of Spices
In the 1400s, there was no refrigeration. To prevent meat from spoiling, people drowned their meat in salt to preserve and dry it (like beef jerky). They also used a lot of spices like pepper to cover up the taste of the salted or spoiled meat.

7. Unfortunately for Europeans, these spices did not grow anywhere in Europe.
They were only found in Asian countries like China, Japan, and India (these countries were known together as "The Indies").

8. It was very difficult to get the spices from Asia to Europe.
Spices had to be brought across thousands of miles of dangerous mountains and deserts by spice traders, with bandits waiting to rob the spice caravans.

9. The alternative was to bring the spices by ship, but the sea voyage was also dangerous because of pirates and storms. Since it was so difficult to get spices from Asia to Europe, spices were very expensive.

10. (2) Gold, Silver, and Precious Stones
European rulers fought many wars. These wars were very expensive, so they needed to find lots of gold, silver, and precious stones to pay for them. They believed that Asia was loaded with gold, silver, and precious stones, so they decided to find it and bring it back.

11. (3) Expand Knowledge
In the late 1400s, Europeans did not know much about the world. Most of them had never been outside of Europe. Although many people thought the world was flat, educated Europeans knew that it was round. The problem was they had no idea how large the world was.

12. (4) Larger Empires
Some European rulers wanted to claim as much land as they could. They wanted to take all of the natural resources from the newly discovered land and use the people that lived there to do their work.

13. (5) Expand Christianity
In the late 1400s, the European rulers were very religious. They wanted to convert everyone to Christianity and looked for ways (and new places) to expand their religion.

14. Questions:
Name 5 reasons why explorers explored.

15. Answer (1) For spices (2) Gold, silver and precious stones
(3) To expand knowledge
(4) They wanted larger empires
(5) To spread Christianity

16. Question
Why were spices so valuable?

17. Answer
Because there was no refrigeration, spices were needed to preserve food as well as disguise the taste.

18. Question
Why did explorers need to look somewhere other than Europe for spices?

19. Answer
Spices did not grow anywhere in Europe.

20. Question
In the late 1400s, what religion sought to convert others in new lands?

21. Answer
Christianity

22. Question
Exploration continues today. Should the United States continue to explore space? Why or why not?

23. Task To complete your notes:
illustrate each of the 5 reasons why explorers explored next to the circle in which they are written.
At the bottom of the page, write which one of the reasons you believe to be the best reason for exploration and why.