Mercantilism was the prevailing economic theory of the first age of exploration and colonization. The primary goal of any country under the direction of mercantilism was to ensure a favorable balance of trade with overseas colonies and European trading partners. A country could achieve this by exporting more than it imported. This led to a frantic competition for colonies between the nations of Europe and exacerbated the desire to acquire new territories.

Leif Erickson explored what is today known as Newfoundland, a part of Canada, a full 500 years before Christopher Columbus began his journey in 1492.

The Treaty of Tordesillas was signed in 1494 by the Spanish and Portuguese kingdoms. It was intended to divide the American continent, newly discovered to Europeans, between the two burgeoning empires. The Treaty of Zaragoza was signed in 1529 and was intended to divide the other side of the world, the Far East in particular, between the same two empires. The treaties were generally respected by the two powers themselves, but were generally ignored by the rest of the European powers once they arrived on the scene.

The Spanish brought more gold and silver to Europe in the space of a couple of centuries than had been mined in the rest of European history collectively. In theory, this would have made Spain immensely wealthy, but Spain was massively in debt to individual investors from England and the Netherlands, and much of the wealth mined in the New World ended up concentrated in the hands of the merchants and bankers of Northern Europe. Inflation obliterated the Spanish economy, and Spain would never again be a major world power that could compete with England, France, and the Netherlands.

Although Britain acquired the territory of India as part of the peace deal that ended the Seven Years’ War, India was for the next hundred years ruled under the direct administration of the British East India Company. In the 1857 Sepoy Rebellion, Hindu and Muslim troops in the colonial army revolted and had to be forcibly put down at great cost to the company. Following this rebellion, the British government decided to take direct control of the administration of India, a period of time referred to as the British Raj. This form of British rule lasted for another ninety years until India gained independence in 1947.

The first successful circumnavigation of the world was completed by an expedition led by the famed Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. Magellan died during the voyage in the South Pacific and so never personally completed the quest; however, he is still remembered in popular history as the first man to circumnavigate the world.

All of these individuals were notable Portuguese explorers except for Christopher Columbus, who was an Italian sailing under the patronage of the Spanish crown. While you might not have known that the answer to this question immediately, you could determine it through careful consideration of the accomplishments of each of these people. Vasco de Gama was the first person to sail around the Cape of Africa and reach India via the ocean, the longest recorded such voyage in human history at the time. This voyage allowed Portugal to control ocean trade with the Far East for much of the sixteenth century before their monopoly was broken by the excursions of the British, French, and Dutch.

The early years of European exploration were dominated by the Portuguese. Portugal was quickly supplanted by the Spanish, who held the largest empire and the biggest navy for much of the sixteenth century. When the Spanish tried to invade England in 1588, their navy was obliterated. England’s rise to global naval supremacy began with the failure of the Spanish Armada.

The Seven Years’ War was primarily waged between Britain and France in the middle of the eighteenth century. It was the culmination of more than a century of global competition between the British and the French to acquire more and more colonies. It was fought in Europe, North America, Asia, and on the seas. It ended in victory for the British and the loss of numerous French territories, including some in India and North America.

Whilst all of these civilizations would eventually play a significant role in European overseas exploration and expansion the first to do so was Portugal. Portuguese exploration began in the second half of the fifteenth century. They were the first to explore around the Southern tip of Africa, the first to reach India via the ocean, and one of the first to reach the New World (after the Spanish).