Prompt: Answer all parts of the question that follows
a.)
Identify ONE political motivation behind new maritime empire building in the time period between 1450 and 1750
b.)
Identify ONE economic motivation behind new maritime empire building in the time period between 1450 and 1750
c.)
Explain ONE way in which the Portuguese established a new maritime empire in the time period between 1450 and
1750

a) One political motivation behind new maritime empire building was defense. An example of this is when an empire is surrounded on all sides by water. This means that the only way that empire can be attacked/invaded is by sea. This makes its defense system very easy. The empire simply has to make sure that all of its coastlines are highly defended so that it can remain safe.

b) One economic motivation behind the creation of maritime empires during 1450-1750 is trade. All of these maritime empires were very successful in their economy. The definition of a maritime empire is a small piece of land that is surrounded by large bodies of water. This means that these empires have high availability to the sea and other trading partners. These empires could export and import any types of goods that they needed, leading to their economy being able to flourish.

c) In the beginning of the 16th century, the Portuguese were able to establish and build the most successful and largest maritime empire that the world ever saw. This was all thanks to its excellent and above average navigation skills. This large empire strung from South America to the Far East, along with the coastlines of India and Africa. With all of this trading ground, Portugal was able to control a vast majority of the European spice trade. Portugal was able to do all this and become so successful because of their astounding navigation skills.

Explanation:

pacal the great: the throne was passed on to pacal through a female; as a result, he believed that he must legitimize his claim to the throne to add stability to his reign.

as a result, the daughter of ac kan's brother ruled until her son, pacal, reached an age old enough to assume the throne.

pacal the great became the king of the mayan city of palenque in a different way than most mayan kings.

pacal pointed out that ac kan had succeeded his mother as ruler, thereby establishing a precedent for the rule to pass through a female.  

he tried to justify that the way he gained the throne by connecting his mother with the divine mother and the mythological events that happened during the creation of the world.  

typically, the son of a male mayan ruler inherited the throne, but in 612 ce, king ac kan died and did not leave behind a male heir.

montezuma 1: even so, these wars of conquest failed to provide enough human sacrifices and because of this, he formed a triple alliance with cities in the valley of puebla-tlascala.  

in addition, montezuma realized that his government failed to the aztecs during the famine.

in order to appease him, montezuma increased the number of human sacrifices.

the aztec performed human sacrifices to their god huitzilopotchli because they believed he desired human blood.  

around 1440 ce, montezuma i became the fifth emperor of the aztecs and went on to rule for 28 years.  

soon after he assumed the throne, the aztecs were hit with a series of disasters, namely a plague of locusts, a flood, and a harsh frost  

huayna capac: huayna capac also fought to gain territories north of his empire in what is now ecuador.  

huayna capac significantly extended the inca empire to the south, into what is now argentina and chile.  

in 1493 ce, huayna capac became the eleventh ruler of the inca empire.  

huayna, therefore, wanted to gain his own lands and launched campaigns against tribes to the east and north of the empire.  

the inca empire reached its peak under the rule of huayna capac.

during this time the empire covered a vast territory including parts of present day colombia, peru, argentina, chile, bolivia, and ecuador.

during his reign, huayna heard about bearded men with pale skin that resembled the incan1 god viracocha and took this news as a bad omen.

huayna took this as another bad omen that predicted the destruction of the empire.