the late 1400s and 1500s began an age of exploration for european countries these countries in europe established trade routes with other countries around the african coast and began looking beyond for new lands the portuguese were the first to establish a good navy and train its sailors a portuguese prince henry the navigator studied a lot of information of other mapmakers and travelers he used everything that he learned and built better ships and made better maps his work started the age of exploration many different countries sent explorers to far off places because they wanted to find gold and other riches other countries sent out explorers to look for new trade routes still other countries wanted to start new colonies and spread christianity