European expansion and colonization of the new world is a process motivated by a variety of factors. Overall, the evaluation of the situation shows that Europeans were motivated by such major factors as territorial expansion; the desire to spread their religious beliefs around the earth along with a goal of being saved from religious persecutions in their home countries, and simply a pursuit of happiness in a new land which seemed to be a better place.
First, addressing the motivation behind European expansion and colonization in the New World, it should be stated that there exist numerous factors for the invading of new territories by the inhabitants of the European continent. Among such factors are economic, religious, and social ones. First, with regards to economic factors, it is known that developed civilizations have always had their goal to occupy new territories in order to take valuable things from them. The territories of the New World are not excluded. European governments were determined to find new sources of natural recourses and manufactured goods.
It is noteworthy that in the seventeenth century it was very fashionable to trade goods brought from remote lands. Such goods were at unreasonable prices, and they also enjoyed remarkable levels of demand. Another group of reasons is religious reasons. In the seventeenth century, in Europe, the movement of Protestantism was very active. The Catholic Church along with the governments was in a constant process of persecuting the so-called “heretics.” To escape such tortures by the Catholic Church, numerous religious communities moved to the lands of the New World. In some cases, the Catholic Church was the originator of the removal of such religious groups from their towns and villages as the clergy saw a threat to their position in active preaching of such religious groups.
Finally, the other group of migration factors is social factors. In particular, some of the people were afraid of the plague epidemic cutting crowds of people, and they wanted to escape such a lot in life in the new land. The other people wanted to try their chances in life searching for better opportunities. They thought about finding gold or any other way of raising their financial assets. Yet another group of people was sent to the land of the New World with the purpose of punishing them for their criminal offenses.