European exploration, exploration of regions of Earth for scientific, commercial, religious, military, and other purposes by Europeans, beginning about the 4th century BCE.
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European exploration, exploration of regions of Earth for scientific, commercial, religious, military, and other purposes by Europeans, beginning about the 4th century BCE.cleMediaAdditional Info
HomeWorld HistoryGlobal Exploration
European exploration
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WRITTEN BY
Jean Brown Mitchell
Fellow, Newnham College, Cambridge, 1934–68; Lecturer in Geography, University of Cambridge, 1945–68. Author of Historical Geography.
See Article History
European exploration, exploration of regions of Earth for scientific, commercial, religious, military, and other purposes by Europeans, beginning about the 4th century BCE.

European exploration: early voyages
Map depicting the European exploration of the New World in the 15th and 16th centuries, including the voyages made by Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci, Pedro Álvares Cabral, Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián del Cano, Giovanni da Verrazzano, Jacques Cartier, Sir Francis Drake, and others. The lines of demarcation represent an early division between the territory of Spain (to the west) and Portugal (to the east).
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

European exploration
RELATED TOPICS
Earth exploration
The motives that spur human beings to examine their environment are many. Strong among them are the satisfaction of curiosity, the pursuit of trade, the spread of religion, and the desire for security and political power. At different times and in different places, different motives are dominant. Sometimes one motive inspires the promoters of discovery, and another motive may inspire the individuals who carry out the search.
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ArticleMediaAdditional Info
HomeWorld HistoryGlobal Exploration
European exploration
Cite Share More
WRITTEN BY
Jean Brown Mitchell
Fellow, Newnham College, Cambridge, 1934–68; Lecturer in Geography, University of Cambridge, 1945–68. Author of Historical Geography.
See Article History
European exploration, exploration of regions of Earth for scientific, commercial, religious, military, and other purposes by Europeans, beginning about the 4th century BCE.

European exploration: early voyages
Map depicting the European exploration of the New World in the 15th and 16th centuries, including the voyages made by Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci, Pedro Álvares Cabral, Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián del Cano, Giovanni da Verrazzano, Jacques Cartier, Sir Francis Drake, and others. The lines of demarcation represent an early division between the territory of Spain (to the west) and Portugal (to the east).
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

European exploration
RELATED TOPICS
Earth exploration
The motives that spur human beings to examine their environment are many. Strong among them are the satisfaction of curiosity, the pursuit of trade, the spread of religion, and the desire for security and political power. At different times and in different places, different motives are dominant. Sometimes one motive inspires the promoters of discovery, and another motive may inspire the individuals who carry out the search.

BRITANNICA QUIZ
European Exploration: Fact or Fiction?
Were the French the first Europeans to reach southern Africa? Was Christopher Columbus the first European to see South America? From southern Africa to Jamaica, navigate your way through this quiz of European exploration.
For a discussion of the society that engaged in these explorations, and their effects on intra-European affairs, see European history. The earliest European empires are discussed in ancient Greek civilization and ancient Rome.
