The history of the European voyages of exploration may be conveniently divided into two areas: the drive to the East, which was pioneered by the Portuguese, and the expansion westwards across the Atlantic to the New World, which was initially led by the Portuguese but eventually dominated by the Spanish. The two differ in that Europe had known of India and China for centuries, whereas the existence of America was totally unsuspected. When Columbus landed in the Bahamas in 1492, America was still viewed as little more than a barrier between Europe and the true prize of the Indies in the East.

The odds were against the European explorers who sailed in frail wooden ships and were guided by crude and primitive instruments into uncharted seas, where shoals were unmarked and shifting currents were a perpetual mystery. These challenges of exploration were great but so were the motivations: a lust for gold and glory, missionary zeal for converting the "savage", and the desire to gain knowledge. Although Portugal and Spain had both developed seafaring traditions over the previous three centuries, neither one was prepared, at the beginning of the fifteenth century, for the imminent age of discovery, exploration, and worldwide commercial development that required knowledge and skills that greatly surpassed the existing resources available. The following sections examine the progress made by the Europeans in addressing these logistical obstacles to their efforts at exploration.

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