How the fuck was Portugal of all places able to start the

>>2830972
Never underestimate Portugal.

>>2830993
Apparently.

Portuguese nobles were having literal boatloads of offspring, creating a glut of young men who grew up in the triumphant closing days of the Reconquista. They pushed for papal support of raids and invasions of North Africa, and in the process started to chart the Atlantic coast of Morocco. The development of the caravel, tested in the rough waters of the Bay of Biscay, helped them navigate the more dangerous capes of Morocco and along with the Spanish discover several islands. With the Ottoman conquests in the eastern Mediterranean and subsequent Venetian monopoly that followed, Portuguese merchants found that these islands they recently discovered had just the right sort of climate to grow their own supply of expensive trade goods.

So the overpopulation, the crusading fervor and drive for subjugating non-believers, the new ocean-worthy ships, and the economic incentive for special plantations and slaves to work them all contributed.

>>2831055
Marvelous!

And did this finance their explorations in the new world

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caravel

good geographical posi-

>>2831118
yeah fuck off we're not here to do your homework

>>2830972


Look at a fucking map of Europe OP. It should be immediately evident.

>>2830972
This is an oversimplification, but in the 1400s and 1500s, economic power shifted from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, and as Portugal was near one and on the other, they were ideally suited.

It had grain growing temperate region and had plenty of resources to support a navy, exposure to Mediterranean and European trade and technology and it as located closest to the sea routes along Africa.

>>2831055
I don't see any evidence Portugal was exceptionally overpopulated

>>2831146
It's not a matter of overpopulation, but rather of there being more young men of means than opportunity for them at home.

>>2831174
Isn't that why the Crusades we started