To what extent were economic considerations the main motive for Portuguese exploration and empire building?

Also it may be relevant to point out that Portugal would be competing with the other nations of Europe on things like trade and so Portugal might have seen these voyages of discovery as a way of getting one-up on all this trade rivals and to become a strong economic power in Europe.

The Economic considerations are both a Push and Pull factor because not only did the need for resources like gold, land and a new spice root push them towards explore but once they found all this gold, slaves and a new spice root. The wealth from these pulled them into funding more and more of similar voyages, as the monarchy and the merchants of Portugal wanted more power, more wealth and more land.

Another factor that must be considered when writing about the motives for Portuguese exploration and empire building is a Religious one.

In the early 15th century Portugal and Spain were committed to and had driven the moors from the Iberian Peninsula, through the reconquista-which was the gradual recovery of land from the Moors. Even though their country had not been long cleared so the Moors the Portuguese were tantalised with the idea of crusading in North Africa to complete this Christian victory. Thought-out the reformation Portugal and Spain had remained Catholic and so when they did take the fight to the Moors they could go with the Popes blessing and would be able to carry the sign of the cross of their banners and on their ships. This motive was the first to motivate the Portuguese to capture Ceuta in 1415.

Many Portuguese saw the war as a national struggle to protect their faith. Many people also believed that exploration held the key to gaining victory over the Moors, and that searching the African Coast could gain a root to find the mythical king “Prestor John”. He has already been motioned in this essay for the above factor but he is mentioned here as well because the Portuguese saw him as a potential ally with which they could ally to, in order to fight the Moors with. This idea links in to the missionary zeal of Portuguese. This can then be tried into “The Salvation of Souls” this idea has also already been mentioned in this essay already because when Portugal conquered large portions of northern Africa they decided to capture the populations and use them as salves. Not only does this tie into the Economic considerations that I have ready mentioned but also the fact that many Portuguese saw that they were saving these Moors from hell by converting them to Christianity. This would have also increased their standing with Pope and would have started to expand Christianity’s influence thought-out the world. Also Portugal would have been competing with Castile and the other Catholic nations of Europe for the Pope’s favour and so they saw spreading Christianity of a way of gaining more of the pope’s favour and getting a standing above that of Spain. Two of these things that I mentioned in my first paragraph have now reappeared under Religious factors. “Prestor John” and this idea of “The Salvation of Souls”. As they appear here as well could suggest that The Economic motive and the Religious motive are either closely related or that perhaps the Religious motive was just used as an excuse to fight these wars with the Moors, that were bringing new wealth to Portugal. This could further suggest that Economic considerations of Portugal was a more powerful and important motive for Portuguese exploration and empire building than the Religious factors.

This factor also closely links in with another. Political factors

Political rivalry with Castile could have also been considered as a motive for Portuguese exploration and empire building because both countries had an interest in the waters surrounding the Iberian Peninsula  and so Portugal would have wanted to control these and so what better way to do this by sending its ships to explore these and the surrounding seas.

Another political factor would be the push for Political stability. In the eighth century the Iberian Peninsula was almost entirely under Islamic rule because of the expanding North African Moors.

So Portugal (and Castile) undertook the “Reconquista” which was the “recapturing” of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors. So by 1249 Portugal was completely cleared of the Moors so it no longer had to spend so much time money and resources on fighting the Moors and could now concentrate these resources on exploration. This would have created Political stability in Portugal and would have allowed them to, as one nation to turn their attention now to exploration.

However this stability was not to last because from 1383-1385 due to the death of King Ferdinand the 1st a war of succession broke out between Portugal and Castile and it ended with the defeat of Castile and victory for King John the 1st of Portugal. A peace treated between Portugal and Castile meant that Portugal now did not have to worry about an invasion or any hostilities being carryout out against them by Castile and so could now turn their focus to exploration. These two factors that were resolved had now created a more outward looking Portugal

A finial political factor would be the Personal Political Motivations of Henry the Navigator. Henry the Navigator was a key player in pursing over-seas exploration, this was due to the fact that he was the 3rd in line for the Portuguese throne and therefore his ambitions for power and had to lie elsewhere because he knew if he didn’t he would just pass though history as a forgotten monarch. So this motive leads him to look to exploration as a way of putting his name in the history books (and gaining some power and respect along the way). Although Henry didn’t actually explore himself he encouraged other people to do so and invested money in these voyages.  

The need for good Political stability, the Political rivalry with Castile and the Personal Political Motivations of Henry the Navigator directly link to the economic considerations that Portugal faced. This is because that even after they had political stability Portugal was still a poor nation and lacking in resources thanks to the wars with Castile and the “Gold famine”. Also once Portugal and Castile were as peace the Political rivalry between them now related to how rich they were and so to try and gain the advantage over Castile, Portugal needed to be wealthier than Castile and the only way to do this was though exploration. It could also be said that even if Henry the navigator encouraged people to explore because there was no economic need to they might not have, or might not have got backing from merchants or the monarchy to do so. Also say if there was no Henry the Navigator would this that meant that the voyages would not have happened? Perhaps but perhaps because of the economic conditions that Portugal faced perhaps somebody would have explored even if he hadn’t had any  “encouragement” from Henry.

The curiosity factor is another one we have to consider because in the 14th century these were many things that would have sparked a man’s curiosity. The Renaissance had brought with it, better education and would have inspired many people to learn and discover new and exciting things. This quest for knowledge can be linked to how people would have began exploring because they wanted to find and discover new things about the world around them. Also this inspiration would have in turn bred determination in the sailors and the voyagers themselves. This would have been critical to the success of the voyages because with this inspired determination they were able to endure hardships and achieve massive feasts of endurance in exploration.

This curiosity was fuelled by the myths and legends that surround the world around them. These myths and legends were fuelled by the tales of explorers such as Sir John Mandeville. Upon returning from this travels Sir John Mandeville wrote a book called “the travel of Sir John Mandeville”. This book described the travels of an English knight who left in England in 1322 and journeyed thought the world. This book contained stories that were fantastic, by any measure, the stories told of strange island whose inhabitants had the bodies of humans that the heads of dogs, of a tribe whose only source of nourishment were the smell of apples. The stories contented getter stranger and stranger one after the other. These tales were coupled with rumours of sea monsters, and tales that the currents beyond cape Bojador were so fast that no ship could survive beyond it. There were also many other rumours just like these ones circulating at the time. There was also a myth that ships and the sailors on them would burn up if they reached the Equator (or what the thought was the middle of the world) and the fact that many sailors believed that the magnetic forces around the centre of the world would get so great that the iron nails in their ships would be ripped out and there ships would just fall apart. These tales may have inspired curiosity in many people. The curiosity to explore, to see these creatures for themselves, or to discredit John Mandeville. And to find out if these tales were indeed true or to discover that they were not. However these tales did have a downside because many of these tales inspired fear in the minds of many people that were living in the early 15th century and could of had made sailors or explorers too afraid to sail beyond the edges of the “known world”.

Also even if there wasn’t any of the stories, this wouldn’t have guaranteed that people wouldn’t have been afraid of the outside would or that people wouldn’t have been curios to find out for themselves what lay outside the borders of the known world”. However this does have a relation to the economic considerations that Portugal faced because perhaps if it wasn’t because people like merchants or the monarchy invested in these voyages then perhaps they wouldn’t have took place and perhaps if it wasn’t for the curiosity to see if they was a new spice root (this was to get wealth for Portugal) or because of the tales of the wealth and the rich’s that were to be had, then these voyages perhaps wouldn’t have happened. This does propose that yet again the Economic motive is a stronger motive and a pull factor than Curiosity.    

The Geographical position of Portugal is another motive for Portuguese exploration and empire building because Portugal was on the Atlantic coast. This would have given them huge advantages. Such as the fact that they were in fact the closest European notion to the “new-world”, for example the Venetians owned the Mediterranean but were not bothered with the Atlantic. This could of been because of how far it was way from Venice and the spice root. So this would have given them advantage time wise on when they would first discover the “new-world”. Also being close to the Atlantic they would of known the water well and thanks to contact with Moorish Or Arabic sailors, Portugal would of gained knowledge from these people to do with sailing as well as being able to use date maps of the African coast.

Finally the last main motive for Portuguese exploration and empire building that will be mentioned in the essay will be the technology that Portugal possessed. During this age of exploration and discovery European nations such as Portugal and Spain possessed technology that not only allowed then to explore by gave them the confidence to explore. Firstly their ship building had improved from the days of the Cob, so that now Portugal had ships like the Carvel (that was clinkered built and had new lateen sails that allowed the ships to sail closer to the wind, this increased the mobility of the ships which was to be critical when sailing through water you haven’t explored before and fighting both storms and the native populations). This new ship not only allowed the Portuguese to explore but perhaps even gave them the confidence to do so because no man was likely to set sail on ship that he wasn’t confident was going to complete the voyage.

The weapons that the Portuguese possessed also fits in nicely with this motive because when the Portuguese were fighting the native populations that they encountered they had advantages in weapons that allowed them to decisively defeat the natives with very few casualties to their side (just look at Hermán Cortés and how he conquered Mexico with just six hundred Spanish).

The Portuguese had two main advantages over the natives. Firstly they possessed gun power, this made sure they had greater range over the natives and it also created a massive fear factor to against the natives. The materials that their weapons where made out of where also vastly superior to any native weapon. For example the Portuguese and Spanish soldiers (or conquistadors) had steel swords that could easy slice thought the natives wooden shields and armour Their steel armour was also more than enough the deflect attacks by wooden native cubs .

These advantages in weapons the Portuguese possessed would have been a motive for exploration and empire building because just like the advancement in ship building, sailors and soldiers would be more likely to volunteer to go on these voyages if they knew that they could be confident that they could defeat almost any enemy that they faced .This again would have given people the confidence to explore.

However even if Portugal didn’t have the Carvel, gun power or steel wouldn’t have meant that Portugal wouldn’t of have explored. Also just because they did have them wouldn’t off necessarily guaranteed that Portugal would have either. Perhaps it was another factor like the economic considerations of Portugal that spurred these explores to explore and thanks to the advancements in technology it was easier and safer than it would have been before but perhaps really it was down to another motive and not just down to the Technology one.

To conclude this essay has stated the motives for Portuguese exploration and empire building and now it will state that it is the belief of this essay that the Economic considerations were the main motives for Portuguese.

Economic considerations were the main motives for Portuguese exploration because these considerations such as the “gold famine” and Portugal’s lack of natural resources really drove Portugal to find and seek out these new lands (if not only for their own gain). If it wasn’t for the rewards or the encouragements, or even the backing of the monarchy or the Merchant class of these Voyages of exploration, then the sailors might not have been so keen to explore because it could have been seen as too dangerous or perhaps pointless to explore if the country was already rich already .Also the economic motive does also underline all the other motives because Portugal went to war with the Moors and the natives perhaps not just because of religion or because they had the technology to do so but because Portugal needed the resources that those land contained. The religious factor can also be seen as a sort of cover-up or as an excuse to hide Portugal’s true motive. Money.

In addition to this the Geographical position of Portugal actually meant they had few resources and because of this the country was very poor, this in turn led to the need for exploration. As you can see the economic factors of Portugal feature in many, if not all of the motives and is the motive in the foreground that throughout all the years of the age of exploration and especially through the early ones drove not just Portugal but many, if not all the European nations to explore and to create their own empires