The europeans were losing money for some time, as all their gold went to the Islamics, which later when to the Chinese. It was a money vaccum, the Europeans later found ways around the Islamics who were overpricing, and the europeans went straight to china, and india to get the goods cheap. (If you have any questions on how they got money out of china later on, just ask.)
Answer: They went around the Muslims, and went to new world for money, and cheaper goods.