European explorers were sent to the new world for?

 The major European countries wanted a trade route to Asia, glory for their respective empires, and to convert the Native American populations there to Christianity. They wanted a trade route that did not involve traveling through the Middle East and paying high taxes. Portugal had already established a route by going around the southern tip of Africa into India, and the other European nations wanted an even shorter route to wealth. They had no idea at the time how big North and South America and thought Asia was very close to it. After Spain sent explorers who discovered and conquered Native American Empires, the gold they looted caused a widespread rush to get the rest of the wealth. Britain, France, and Spain colonized much of the new world as well as explored it.