Colonial Empires

<p>The <b>Colonial empires</b> began with a race of exploration between the then most advanced maritime powers, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portugal" title="Portugal">Portugal</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain" title="Spain">Spain</a>, in the 15th century. The initial impulse behind these dispersed maritime empires and those that followed was trade, driven by the new ideas and the capitalism that grew out of the European <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance" title="Renaissance">Renaissance</a>. Agreements were also done to divide the world up between them in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Alc%C3%A1%C3%A7ovas" title="Treaty of Alcáçovas">1479</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter_caetera" title="Inter caetera">1493</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Tordesillas" title="Treaty of Tordesillas">1494</a>. European Imperialism was born out of a competition between European Christians and Muslim Ottomans, the latter of which rise up very quickly in the 14th century and forced the Spanish and Portuguese to seek a new trade route so they could continue to exchange goods with China.</p>