What Was the Motivation for the Europeans to Explore? Gold God and Glory

Europeans believed the world was flat until explorers and navigators in the 1400's and1500's started convince the world that it wasn't indeed. This sparked a need for exploration. In Europe the founding of new land became a race for money. Whichever country could own the most colonies and have major exports from them could dominate the world. The three main motivations for exploration were Gold, Glory, and God.
Gold would give a country trade and money. Gold inspired many expeditions. In 1513 Juan Ponce De Leon went to Florida in search for gold. …