There are many causes and motivations that led to the age of exploration, one of many include; the crusades, crusades are wars between Muslims and Christians lasted from the 1000’s to the 1200’s. The interactions between Muslims and Christians led the Europeans to spread Christianity and stop the spread of Islam. Other than that, the desire for new sources of wealth and spices and luxurious goods, and the advances in sailing technology influenced the age of European Exploration. After the crusades ended Europeans kept demanding for spices, but because the demand for goods was greater than the supply, shopkeepers started charging them for higher prices, and the Muslims and Italians were controlling the monopoly of the trade routes, so paying such high prices cut into their own profits, so they wanted to find a new sea route directly to Asia, without passing through the Italians and Muslims, so they can avoid paying taxes.
The only problem about sailing into the unknown and finding a new sea route directly to Asia was that they didn’t have well-built ships to sail in, or ships that sailed against wind, or any technological advantages of sailing, only until the 1400’s when they adopted all of the sailing knowledge and technology from the Muslims. They also used the astrolabe to better determine their location at sea, also from which the Arabs had perfected. They also used the rings to sight the stars, which allowed them to calculate latitude. And explorers were able to precisely track their direction by using the Chinese magnetic compass.
One of the most important motivations that led to the Age of Exploration was the desire for fame; this is related to the renaissance concept translation of human accomplishment. Explorers wanted to leave history behind and have their name known throughout the world.