- To find new, more efficient water trade routes to Asian markets,avoiding the established land routes through Muslim-controlledareas (and thus the taxes imposed by Muslim middlemen).- To find new lands to extend the cultivation of cash crops such as sugar,coffee, and pepper.- To spread the Christian religion.- To gain political status.- Such efforts were possible as a result of new technologies in mapmaking and navigation that were built upon previous knowledge (i.e., from classical times, as well as from the Islamic and Asian worlds), as well as of the extensive use of gunpowder and cannons.- Over time, Europeans would establish large empires in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

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