help with world history.... 1500s IN EUROPE. how do i do this? help me figure it out?

Question

By knowing this:

Other than Marco Polo's journey to China and the crusaders' travels to the Holy Land, Europe had little first-hand contact with other parts of the world before the 1400s. However, changes began to occur that sparkled some people's interest in the opportunities connected with exploration....



Now: Describe changes that occured in Europe and set the stage for overseas exploration and EUROPEAN expansion. Describe the impact of the explorers that sailed prior to 1521 under the flags of Spain and Portugal.

Answer 1

Clearly they are referring to the "New World"--that would be currently the US. Remember 1492, Columbus. After he got back, many countries started sailing people over here. SO yeah just do some basic research on the discovery and founding of America/Carribbean and you could even do the demise of the Aztecs. I even remember seeing a map in my old high school history book that mentioned each explorer based on if they went to Carib islands, up the Mississippi, Mexico--You'll have this report in no time.

But don't expect b/c you wont research your own country (somehow I know you are American), that someone on yahoo will write a report for you.

Answer 2

I'd suggest starting with reading following articles. They'll give you some basic information and several links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Discovery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_colonization_of_the_Americas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portugal_in_the_Age_of_Discovery