Why were european countries interested in finding a new route to the east indies?

The previous route was very dangerous and was also expensive to traverse. Early travelers encountered dangers such as war zones and diseases. They also had to cross deserts and mountains to get to their destination. Progress was made when a new route via the sea was discovered. This limited the perils that were once faced. 

The second , larger puritan colony of massachusetts bay was conceived as a "city upon a hill". but it also struggled with internal turmoil like the salem witch trials and external conflicts like king philip's (metacom's) war.