Why did the Spanish and Portuguese launch voyages of exploration? A. They were looking for territory where people could settle. B. They wanted to study the governments of other countries around the world. C. They wanted to learn more about the cultures of peoples in other parts of the world. D. They hoped to establish sea routes to the Indies to make profits from trade.
History · High School · Mon Jan 18 2021
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The primary motivation behind the Spanish and Portuguese voyages of exploration was:
D. They hoped to establish sea routes to the Indies to make profits from trade.
These exploratory voyages were primarily driven by the desire to find new, more efficient trade routes to the lucrative spice trade in the East Indies (present-day Indonesia and surrounding areas). The established land routes were controlled by middlemen, making goods very expensive when they reached Europe. Finding sea routes directly to the source would enable them to bypass these intermediaries and gain direct access to the spices, thereby increasing profits and economic advantages for their respective countries.