Guns, Sails, and Empires: Technological Innovation and the Early Phases of European Expansion, 1400- 1700

About this book

European expansion was essentially a commercial venture, and the fact that the colonial policies of the European powers had a very pronounced mercantile tone was the natural consequence of the basic motives behind that expansion. A wide range of opportunities magnetized the Europeans overseas. Religion supplied the pretext and gold was the motive.