Age of Exploration

Europeans held overseas expeditions in search of  new trade routes for spices and goods. Instead Christopher Columbus ended up discovering the New World, through the new world the Spanish and Portuguese empire's began to fund oversea voyages and colonize the New World. Discoveries and conquest in the New World stimulated Europe's economy and fed the growth of capitalism. European’s economic life came to depend on Eastern spices, African slaves, and American metal. From over sea expansion the Spanish and Portuguese came across several different resources including gold and new metals. The Portuguese began the Atlantic slave trade and made a fortune, while the Spanish conquered the Incan and Aztec empires and brought a fortune in gold back to Spain.