Quote:2. It wasn't just the exploration that drove European technological innovation, it was a combination of a ruthless devotion to the economic exploitation of what it had explored, as well as the demographics that provided the people who would go and exploit at vast risk to their own lives, and a economic system which made the capital required for this exploration available, that drove the technological innovation.
There was also the factor of necessity. By the 15th century the Islamic kingdoms of West Asia had recovered from the ass-kicking the Mongols gave them and were newly re-energized and cracking down on various xtian groups within their borders. Between them, the remains of the Byzantine Empire and the Venetians the China trade was tied up. Long before Columbus the Portuguese were coasting down Africa and planning to reach India which they ultimately did. Columbus' discoveries led to the God, Gold, Glory boom for the Spanish. The growing nationalism of the Western European powers was a factor: They did not want to be controlled by the East.
