1. During the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, the European voyages of exploration were closely linked to the development of capitalism. How are these processes connected, and how did they contribute to the rise of European power during this period?

2. What were the main reasons that the Europeans undertook their transatlantic voyages beginning in the late 1400s? What conditions necessitated them? (In short, why were the Europeans sailing across the Atlantic and not the Chinese or Indians across the Pacific?)