Short Story

uld come across on these expeditions during the 15th and 16th century. The

Renaissance (during the 14th and 15th century) sparked a role in launching the age of

exploration. Discoveries during the Renaissance lead to better technology, such as the compass

and better ships that would be able to sail weeks away from land. The Renaissance sparked

adventure and curiosity. he main desire for exploration was new sources of wealth. Italians

and Muslims controlled the trade routes of East to West. Muslims cheaply sold the Italians A

sian goods, and Italians then resold the goods at increased prices to merchants throughout

Europe. This angered many European merchants, and new monarches of English, Spain,

Portugal and France. They wanted to circumnavigate Italian merchants, which meant finding a

sea route directly to Asia. This began the age of exploration, and the dangerous hunt to be the

most wealthy and powerful country in the world.

A motive of Christopher Columbus' and Bartolomeus Dias' as they reached unknown

territories was to convert the forgeiners they came across to Christianity, and accurate records

prove this to be true. Bartolomeu Dias, a Portugese explorer stated his motives, "To serve God

and His Majesty, to give light to those who were in darkness and to grow rich as all men desire

to do" (Beck et. al. 96). In 1488, Dias and his crew set out on a voyage to Asia in search of

looking for gold. He any many others hoped to gather goods from the people of Asia. They also

hoped on converting the people of Asia to Christianity. Christians believed they had a duty to

continue fighting the Muslims, but also to convert all the non-Christians in the world.

Christopher Columbus, a devoted Christian, felt the duty to convert the natives he came across

to Christianity in 1492. In the Journal of Christopher Columbus, Colbumbus stated,

"'I' he says, 'in order that they feel great annuity towards us because I knew that they were a

people to be delivered and converted to our holy faith rather by love than by force, gave to s

ome among them some red caps

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