God,Gold,and Glory
God: to teach the rest of the people of the world, which they called “savages” about the Christian faith.
Gold: Many European nations were competing at the time, to see which nation was the most powerful. However, to do that, they needed money so explorers from these countries would venture out in hope of finding gold. They did and would take it from these new nations and give it back to the motherland (mercantilism) Many of these explorers would also receive glory by doing this, which would let them receive a good chunk of that gold.
Glory: After Columbus discovers the New World, many other European countries would send explorers to explore and conquer new parts of the world before other European countries did. Many explorers did this to revive glory, and with glory comes gold.