One major reason that allowed Europeans to expand into the Atlantic was the Colombian Exchange. The vegetables brought over from the New World such as tomatoes, squash, and potatoes brought more vitamins into the diets of Europeans, thus boosting birth rates and longevity. As Western Europe became more crowded, people competed fiercely for jobs and land. Many people left Europe in order to take a chance on achieving a better life in North America. The European diseases, most notably smallpox, wiped out over ninety percent of the Native Americans living on the Continent, thus making it harder for them to compete against the encroaching Europeans.
Another major reason that allowed Europeans to expand was economic competition. The nations of Western Europe--most notably Spain, England, and France--sought the best routes to the New World in the hopes of one day finding a way through it to Asia. When this did not work, the nations began to see the New World as special in its own way. Colonists in the New World began to export lumber, sugar, food, and gold to Europe in order to enrich the mother country. In return, merchants in Europe sold the colonists finished products. It was hoped that as a nation became more self-sufficient, its competitors would become weaker. One major reason why Britain became the dominant player on the North American continent was its ability to use its navy to protect its merchants and to attack enemy holdings in the New World and all over the world.
Still yet another reason was the changing nature of European society in the Era of Exploration. The Catholic Church was losing control and many splinter sects of Protestantism sprang up in Europe. Many groups were persecuted for not following the state-sanctioned church. In addition to the widespread poverty among the lower classes, life was quite miserable for those without financial means who wished to follow the religion of their choice. England took advantage of the situation best when it exported its religious dissidents to Maryland (Catholics) and New England (Pilgrims). England also exported its "deserving poor" to Georgia and provided the means for someone to work off their passage in the form of signing a contract to become an indentured servant. By exporting its potential troublemakers and profiting off their labor, England was further able to distance itself from its competition in the New World.
European countries were motivated to expand in part because of political competition among themselves and the economic theory of mercantilism, which sought to maximize a country's exports and minimize imports in an effort to amass bullion (or gold). New World conquests helped European countries export more and import less because the New World was a source of raw materials and markets for finished goods made in Europe. Nationalism, or the belief that a country's destiny is to expand, also was a political motivation for European expansion. In addition, the growth of European populations was a demographic factor behind their expansion.
As a result of the interconnectedness of the Atlantic World, there was an exchange of products, technology, and livestock. For example, horses were introduced into the New World from Europe, and agricultural products such as tobacco and sugar were brought back to Europe, where they proved very popular. Technologies such as guns were introduced in the New World, as were diseases that were unknown in the Western Hemisphere up to that point, including small pox. These diseases resulted in the decimation of some New World populations. Tragically, slavery was also introduced in the New World, as slaves were imported from Africa to the West Indies and to the mainland North American and South American colonies.
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